Synagogue in Rychnov nad Kněžnou

The Synagogue in Rychnov nad Kněžnou sits on Palackého street in this small town in the Hradec Králové Region of Czechia, not far from the Polish border. The two-storey Baroque-Classicist building no longer serves a religious congregation — instead it holds a museum dedicated to the town's vanished Jewish community and to the writer Karel Poláček.

Is this the original synagogue building?

Not quite. An earlier synagogue on the same site dated back to the mid-17th century, but it burned down completely in a major fire in 1779. The local Jewish community rebuilt quickly: a new masonry, two-storey structure went up in 1781–1782, blending Baroque massing with Classicist detailing. That is the building visitors see today, though it has been reworked several times since.

What has the building been through over the centuries?

The synagogue's history reads as a string of fires and repairs. Another serious fire in 1830 damaged it badly enough to require a thorough reconstruction. It was repaired again in 1898, and in 1913 the interior was modernised, likely reflecting the changing needs of an already shrinking congregation. Religious services continued here without interruption right up until the outbreak of the Second World War.

What happened to it during and after the war?

The war put an end to worship in the building. The synagogue was devastated and its furnishings looted. Afterwards, with the local Jewish community effectively gone, the building lost its original purpose entirely — for decades it served as a storage facility, and for a time even housed a gas retailer. It would take until the 1990s for the structure to be given a dignified new role.

What is inside the synagogue today?

A full restoration was carried out in the 1990s, and the building reopened in May 1995 in a ceremony attended by the Israeli ambassador, Dr. Moshe Yegar — one of the first major post-communist restorations of Jewish heritage in Czechia. Since then the synagogue has housed the Jewish Museum of Podorlicko together with a memorial to Karel Poláček, a Jewish writer born in the region. In 2002, a monument to the Holocaust victims of the local community was unveiled beside the building's south facade.

Who were the Jews of Rychnov nad Kněžnou?

Records place a Jewish presence in the town as early as 1604, and in 1657 Count Franz Karl I. Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky confirmed the statutes of the local Jewish community — thought to be the oldest known set of community statutes in Bohemia. The community peaked at around 400 people in the mid-19th century, then steadily declined as members moved to larger cities; by 1930 only 71 people of Jewish faith remained in the town.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is the synagogue located? On Palackého street in Rychnov nad Kněžnou, Hradec Králové Region (coordinates: 50.1627 N, 16.2762 E).

Can visitors go inside? Yes — the building houses the Jewish Museum of Podorlicko and an exhibition dedicated to writer Karel Poláček.

Is the current building the original 17th-century synagogue? No. The structure standing today was built in 1781–1782, replacing an earlier synagogue that burned down in 1779.

Is there any other trace of the town's Jewish history nearby? Yes, Rychnov nad Kněžnou also has a Jewish cemetery dating from 1588, with its last burials taking place before the Second World War.