Wolf Popper Synagogue

The Popper Synagogue (Synagoga Poppera), also called the Bocian or Small Synagogue, stands at Szeroka 16 in Kraków's Kazimierz district, tucked behind a courtyard closed off by an openwork gate. It was founded in 1620 by Wolf Popper, one of the richest merchants in Jewish Kazimierz. Since 2017 it has housed the Austeria bookshop.

Who was Wolf Popper?

Wolf Popper, nicknamed Bocian (Polish for "stork"), was a merchant and financier. He built his fortune through a sharp head for business and through his marriage to Cyrla, daughter of the wealthy Kraków merchant Juda Leib Landau. He was widowed in 1621, and a few years later, after returning from a journey, he fell gravely ill and drew up his will. Popper furnished his synagogue lavishly, and its interior was considered the richest of all Kraków's synagogues.

How did the community take it over?

After Popper's death his heirs fought over the estate, and the cost of maintaining such a richly appointed synagogue proved too much for them. Around 1653 the building passed to the Jewish community of Kazimierz. It originally stood at the back of the Popper family's townhouse, and its east wall was formed by the town's defensive wall.

How has the building changed?

The most important rebuilding came in 1827, when a women's gallery was added, the roof and stairs were reworked, and the courtyard was separated from Szeroka Street by the gate that still stands today. Above its central passage is a reconstructed Hebrew plaque giving the founder's name, the founding year of 1620 and a renovation date of 1904. The building itself is simple: a single rectangular hall of brick and stone, propped up by heavy buttresses and covered by a barrel vault.

What happened in the twentieth century?

During the occupation the Germans badly damaged the synagogue, and its furnishings were lost. The only survivors were the carved and painted oak doors of the seventeenth-century Torah ark. They depict a lion, an eagle, a deer and a leopard, a reference to a passage in the Mishnah urging the faithful to do God's will with the strength and agility of these animals. In 1964 the doors were sent to a museum in Jerusalem.

After the war, Jewish repatriates from the Soviet Union lived for several years in the former women's rooms. In 1956 the city authorities decided to turn the building into a community centre and ordered the congregation out. Kraków's Jewish congregation protested and kept the synagogue, in what was the largest protest by the Jewish community in postwar Poland.

What did the 1960s renovation bring?

Between 1964 and 1967 the building underwent a thorough overhaul that erased what was left of its historic interior. The niche for the Torah ark, a second entrance at the rear and the wooden annexes all disappeared. With the consent of the Jewish community, a branch of the Old Town Youth Cultural Centre occupied the building for many years. From 1996 it hosted the "Discovering Kazimierz" art workshops during the Jewish Culture Festival. In 2005 the façade was plastered and the windows were replaced with copies of the prewar ones.

Who owns the synagogue, and what is there today?

The building belongs to the Jewish Religious Community of Kraków. Since 2017 it has housed the Austeria bookshop, linked to a publishing house that specialises in Jewish-themed literature. The former synagogue is not used for worship.

Frequently asked questions

Where does the name come from? From its founder, the merchant Wolf Popper, known as Bocian, who established it in 1620.

Are services held here? No. The building has not served a religious purpose for decades, and since 2017 it has been home to the Austeria bookshop.

Who owns the building? The Jewish Religious Community of Kraków.

What survives of the original furnishings? Only the seventeenth-century oak doors of the Torah ark, decorated with animal figures and kept in a museum in Jerusalem.

What was the 1956 protest about? The Jewish congregation opposed handing the synagogue over for use as a community centre. It was the largest protest by the Jewish community in postwar Poland.