הסיפור של Old Synagogue in Łódź
The Old Synagogue, also known as the Alte Szil, stood at 20 Wolborska Street. It was the main house of worship of Łódź's Jewish community. The brick synagogue opened in 1861, replacing an earlier wooden synagogue that had become inadequate for the growing congregation. Building work on the brick structure continued into the 1870s.
In the late nineteenth century, architect Adolf Zeligson redesigned and enlarged the synagogue. His plans date from 1895–1896; the principal reconstruction took place from 1897 to 1900. The work gave the building its richly ornamented Moorish Revival appearance. Interior decoration and furnishing continued after the main building campaign.
The synagogue remained a centre of Jewish religious life until the Nazi occupation of Łódź. Nazi occupiers deliberately set it on fire in November 1939. Although some outer walls survived the blaze, the occupation authorities ordered their removal, and demolition was completed in the spring of 1940. The building is gone, but photographs and Zeligson's architectural drawings preserve a record of its appearance.
Where it stood for nearly 40 years
Approximate former site of Wolborska 20, Park Staromiejski, Łódź, Poland; Pomnik Dekalogu is nearby, not on the exact footprint
פתיחת מפה גדולה ←הקהילה היהודית
The synagogue served as the principal communal house of prayer for Jews in Łódź. It belonged to the city's established Jewish religious community and was closely associated with Orthodox worship. Its successive buildings reflect the congregation's growth during Łódź's nineteenth-century industrial expansion.
אדריכלות ועיצוב
The brick synagogue opened in 1861 to a design by Jan Karol Mertsching. Adolf Zeligson's 1897–1900 reconstruction transformed its exterior in a Moorish Revival idiom, with a monumental entrance and patterned decorative treatment. Surviving plans, elevations and photographs document the changes. Five of Zeligson's ink-and-watercolour drawings were returned to the State Archive in Łódź in 2022 after their recovery abroad.
החיים בבית הכנסת
As the Jewish community's main synagogue, the building hosted regular prayer and communal religious ceremonies. The surviving documentation establishes its importance as a functioning sanctuary, although a detailed account of everyday worship has not yet been assembled for this record.
הרס
Nazi occupiers deliberately set the synagogue on fire in November 1939. Sources disagree on the precise night. Torah scrolls kept inside were burned. The outer walls were still standing after the arson, but the German occupation authorities ordered demolition in December 1939; the work was completed in spring 1940.
האתר כיום
No part of the synagogue survives. It stood at the former Wolborska 20, in the area now occupied by Park Staromiejski. Postwar redevelopment changed the street layout, so the original footprint cannot be identified from today's address alone. The map pin gives an approximate historic location, based on POLIN's coordinates for the synagogue; it should not be read as a surveyed building outline.
The 1995 Pomnik Dekalogu (Moses monument) stands nearby in the park. It commemorates the Jewish community and is a useful landmark, but it is not the exact position of the synagogue.
שמות בולטים
Eliyahu Chaim Meisel
1821–1912Chief rabbi and renovation committee chairŁódź's chief rabbi chaired the committee appointed in 1897 to oversee and fund the reconstruction of the synagogue on Wolborska Street.
ביוגרפיה או מקור ←Adolf Zeligson
1867–1919Architect of the reconstructionDesigned the 1897–1900 rebuilding that gave the synagogue its richly decorated Moorish Revival appearance. His surviving drawings record its façades, interior and plans.
ביוגרפיה או מקור ←Jan Karol Mertsching
1818–1872Architect of the brick synagogueThe district builder prepared the plans and estimate for the brick synagogue begun in 1859, which became the foundation of the later building.
ביוגרפיה או מקור ←Eliezer Leib Treistman
1862–1920Chief rabbiŁódź's later chief rabbi participated in a ceremonial service at the Wolborska synagogue on 3 May 1919.
ביוגרפיה או מקור ←יש לכם משהו לתרום?
תמונות, מסמכים, סיפורי משפחה וזיכרונות מבית הכנסת ומהקהילה שלו עוזרים לשמור על ההיסטוריה שלו בחיים.
- POLIN Virtual Shtetl — Altshtot Synagogue, Wolborska 20
- Polish Ministry of Culture — recovered Zeligson drawings
- Krzysztof Stefański — archival research on the Old Synagogue
- Wikimedia Commons — historic photograph of the Old Synagogue
- Fotopolska / National Digital Archives — 1928 façade photograph
- POLIN Virtual Shtetl — synagogue photograph and approximate coordinates
- Łódź tourism guide — Wolborska 20 and the nearby Decalogue monument
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