Exhibition view of the Museum of Mazovian Jews is Płock, courtesy of the museum
The site of a 19th-century synagogue is reborn as the Museum of Mazovian Jews, one of the first modern institutions devoted to the local culture of Jewish people of Poland today
The museum has been established in the only synagogue in the city of Płock to have survived the Second World War. The interior has been filled with multimedia exhibitions detailing the daily life of the Jewish community in the area, illustrated with various relics.
The main exhibition at the museum in Płock is meant to educate visitors "on the history of Jewish settlement in the Mazury district of Poland for both Poles eager to learn more about the topic and for foreigners curious about the rich history of the Jewish people on Polish soil". The museum joins a roster of Jewish culture revival projects across Poland and beyond - with the Museum of Polish Jews in Warsaw's partial opening in April 2013 and full opening in early 2014, and the online Virtual Shtetl project to promote Jewish culture outside of geographic boundaries.
Focus
The exhibition focuses on the facts of life of ordinary people - merchants, officials, artisans, workers, peasants, scientists and artists - those who made up the 9,000 members of Płock's Jewish community. As the representatives of the Marszałkowski regional bureau in Warsaw told Rzeczpospolita newspaper,
Despite the museum's historical location, it's very modern. The culture, traditions and religious rituals of Jews is exhibited here thanks to the use of multimedia techniques. Visitors will not only be able to familiarise themselves with the history of the Jewish nation and survey cultural souvenirs, but also have a sensory experience of the atmosphere of religious rituals, traditions and even foods.
Part of the exhibition is a tribute to the Holocaust, displaying the works of Feliks Tuszyński, a 91-year-old painter who was born into a Jewish family in Płock, and who has lived in Australia since 1950. The site will host educational activities and concerts, as well as other cultural activities for both adults and kids.
Little Synagogue
The synagogue on Kwiatka Street in Płock was built in 1810. It was renovated in 1870, with the installation of a new Aron Kodesh for storing Torah scrolls. During the Second World War it served as the headquarters of the Judenrat, the Jewish Council of Management of the local ghetto. In 1949, the Jewish community has launched a knitting cooperative in the building. In 1959 the building became the property of the State Treasury, later entered in the register of monuments. The synagogue was neglected in the meantime, then in 2004 the Synagogue Association of Płock took over the building from the city.
It is the only synagogue to remain in the city and one of the few surviving in the Mazovia district. Płock's Great Synagogue had been demolished in 1951. The so-called Little Synagogue was renovated and restored between 2011-2013, with foundations reinforced, a new roof built and restoration of the original interiors. A priceless souvenir of decades past was a surviving bit of blue plaster hidden behind a cupboard containing the Pentateuch scrolls. The conversion of the former synagogue into the Museum of Mazovian Jews in Płock was funded by the Regional Operational Programme of Mazovia at a cost of 9 million złoty.
For more information, see: synagogaplocka.pl
Editor: AL
Source: Based on the original article on Culture.pl