Remuh Synagogue and Cemetery

This synagogue is the only Kraków temple where believers of the Jewish faith regularly take part in prayers. The cemetery located in its neighborhood is about 500 years old, and the oldest burials recorded date back to 1551. It is also a place of pilgrimage for Jews from around the world, arriving at the grave of Moses Isserles who died in 1572.

Moses was the son of the merchant Isserl ben Joseph, who funded the synagogue with the consent of king Zygmunt August himself in 1556. The original wooden building of the temple, which was destroyed in a fire two years later, was rebuilt in a brick version. The Renaissance building has been rebuilt several times, losing its original character.

Serious destruction was caused by the Second World War, when the temple served as a warehouse and the weapon storage. In the years 1958-1968 the synagogue was renovated and reconstructed. It is interesting that during the excavation works carried out in the 1960s on an empty plot, was discovered over 700 gravestones covered with Jewish ornaments from the period from the 16th to the 19th century. Currently, there are 711 historic tombstones here.