History
of the Structure
 There
was a synagogue in the town
of Porozow as early as 1731,
and the location of the
extant synagogue structure
appears on an 1868 map. The
original building is
presumed to have been built
around 1825, but it was
burned and rebuilt in the
various fires that struck
the town, finally being
ruined during World War II.
After the war there were no
more Jews to rebuild it, and
so it was repaired by
townspeople in approximately
1964 and converted into a
warehouse.
The 5,000 square foot,
two-story structure, thought
to be the only extant
synagogue structure in
Belarus built of what is
known as “rubble stone,”
originally included a foyer,
a main hall, a staircase and
a women’s balcony. The main
entrance is in the middle of
the west façade; a former
entrance on the north side
of the building has been
blocked, as were many of the
window openings when the
building was reconfigured
for use as a storage house.
A former cornice no longer
exists. Silicate brick was
used on one façade during
reconstruction.
The historical layout of
the synagogue is unknown,
although it is clear that
the aron kakodesh,
the ark in which the Torah
scrolls were stored, was on
the eastern wall, opposite
the main entrance, and not
in the center of the main
hall. The niche in which the
ark was located still
exists.
Click
on any thumbnail to view a larger image. The five interior
images at the bottom were
taken in 2011 and are
courtesy of Jessica
Weber-Milne.
Synagogue
Description
 The
Building of a
Synagogue in the
Village of Porozovo,
documentation
prepared in 2002 by
Vladimir and Alexei
Eremenko, gives a
detailed description
of the building as
it stands today,
with hints as to its
historic appearance.
Click on the
thumbnail to view
the document.
|
Architectural
Renderings
 Architectural
renderings of the
Synagogue appear on
the website of the
website of the
Hebrew University of
Jerusalem’s Bezalel
Narkiss Index of
Jewish Art.
Click on the
thumbnail to view
all of the
renderings on the
University's
website.
|
In
August, 2019, the warehouse
building in which the Jews
of Porozow once worshipped
was put on sale. It
was put up for auction at
an asking price of US$6,000,
but there were no bidders.
Click on the title above for
the original announcement in
Russian.
Other Sources on the Porozow
Synagogue
Belarus Holocaust Memorial
Project. This
site commemorates the July
17, 2018 placement adjacent
to the synagogue of a
monument to the 354
Porozovan Jews who perished
in the Holocaust in the
Spring of 1942.
Globe of Belarus. The
Porozow page on Andrew
Dybovsky's Russian-language
website presenting thousands
of photograps of
architectural and other
sights of Belarus.
The National Library of
Israel. Physical
description of the Porozow
Synagogue.
The Bezalel Narkiss Index of
Jewish Art.
Architectural drawings of
the Porozow Synagogue and
"The Building of a
Synagogue," extensive
documentation compiled by
Vladimir Pervishin and
Alexei Eremenko in 2002,
viewable
here.
Jewish Heritage Research
Group in Belarus. This
web page has three images of
the Porozow Syngaogue, one
of which is an interior
shot.
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