The former Great Synagogue in Kielce is to be converted into the House of Understanding. It will be an institution dedicated to social education, the history of Kielce’s Jewish community, and the memory of the Holocaust. In May 2026, an architectural competition was decided, with the ngo pasierbiński studio emerging as the winner. The architects proposed a concept based on preserving traces of the building’s successive historical phases, rather than recreating its former appearance.
The Great Synagogue in Kielce – its origins
The history of the Jewish community in Kielce began relatively late. This was due to the privilege of de non tolerandis Judaeis, which restricted Jewish settlement in the town belonging to the bishops of Kraków. However, their situation changed in the 19th century, and by the beginning of the following century, Jews already accounted for around one-third of Kielce’s inhabitants. They ran shops, craft workshops and businesses there, and established social organisations and religious institutions. It was for this rapidly growing community that the Great Synagogue was built between 1903 and 1909, designed by Stanisław Szpakowski. The plot of land for the construction was donated by Mojżesz Pfefer, who also supported the project financially.
The decline of the Jewish house of prayer
The synagogue was built in the Moorish-Neo-Romanesque style, popular in synagogue architecture at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. It was distinguished by its large windows, rich detailing and striking form. Inside, there was a high prayer hall, galleries for women, a bimah and a decorative aron ha-kodesh. During the German occupation, the furnishings were destroyed, and towards the end of the war, the building was also set on fire. After 1945, the building stood abandoned and gradually fell into ruin. The tragic fate of the house of prayer is compounded by the history of Kielce’s Jewish community, the majority of whom were deported to the Treblinka extermination camp in 1942. Four years later, the Kielce pogrom took place, in which 42 people were killed and several dozen were injured. The vast majority of the victims were Jews.
The Great Synagogue in Kielce and its reconstruction
Hope for the dilapidated building did not arrive until the 1950s. It was then converted for use by the State Archives in Kielce. However, the design did not envisage preserving the existing character of the former synagogue. As part of the work carried out, most of the decorations and details disappeared, the shape of the windows was altered, new storeys were added, and the whole structure was covered with a flat roof. The interiors were adapted strictly for the storage of documents. The Archives operated here for over 50 years, until 2010. After they moved out, consideration began to be given to the future of the building. Even then, the creation of a centre for cultural and religious exchange was being considered, but the building had to wait 15 years for concrete plans to materialise.
Architecture in the face of absence – a project by the NGO Pasierbiński
The winning design by ngo pasierbiński is entitled “Under a Shared Sky”. The designers rejected the idea of reconstructing the synagogue’s former appearance, arguing that recreating its form without restoring its original function would be an inauthentic undertaking. The proposed concept treats the building as a space where three layers of history converge: the synagogue, the archive and a contemporary cultural institution. None of them dominates; each remains visible. A significant nod to history will be the removal of secondary ceilings to restore the full height of the former prayer hall.
The House of Understanding will open the building to Kielce
The design features a new entrance, partly underground, which will change the way the building is perceived from the very first steps. The renovated building will house exhibition halls, an educational centre, a library, workshop spaces, a multi-purpose conference and concert hall, a café and a rooftop viewing terrace. Debates, meetings and community events dedicated to history, intercultural dialogue and combating hate speech will be organised there. The House of Understanding is set to become an important place of remembrance for the Jewish inhabitants of Kielce, and at the same time a new space for reflection on the mechanisms of exclusion and violence that so tragically marked the 20th century.
Design: ngo pasierbiński
Source: jewish.org.pl, zitkof.kielce.eu, sztetl.org.pl
See also:Historic building|Architecture in Poland|Religious architecture | Kielce|Renovation
The Great Synagogue in Kielce: past and present. Source: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons and Google Maps
The Great Synagogue in Kielce, past and present. Source: Jan Karski Foundation and Google Maps
