It is one of the few examples of this type of architecture in southern Mazovia.

History

In the years 1843-1870 a wooden synagogue existed in Ciepielów. The immediate cause of the construction of the existing synagogue was the fire that swept across the town on 29 April 1886. Four months later, the Chief Architect of the Iłża Poviat, Lucjan Mierzejewski, completed the plans of a new, brick building. In March 1887 the Jews of Ciepielów began constructing the new synagogue. Construction works lasted until 1891; however, only 26 years later the synagogue burned down as a result of acts of war. The synagogue was rebuilt in 1929. The finishing works in the interior lasted until 1932. After World War II the building was taken over by the Commune Agricultural Cooperative in Ciepielów, which adapted it for warehouse purposes. Currently, the synagogue is out of use and continues to dilapidate. The new owner completely altered the interior of the synagogue due to the new form of usufruct of the feature. A new door opening was cut out in the northern wall, while sanitary facilities were added to the eastern wall. The interior was partitioned by a new wooden ceiling resting on wooden pillars. One window in the kehilla room was walled up, the other was altered. On the left side from the main entrance there are contemporary stairs leading to a narthex on the upper floor. All windows were boarded over and covered with sheet metal up to the half of their height.

Description

Initially, the synagogue was situated on the square located in the south-eastern part of the market square. The current building is located at 9 Źródlana Street. The parcel on which the synagogue stands is fenced by a metal net. The synagogue is a two-storey building erected on a rectangular floor plan, without a basement, built of red brick, covered with four-sloped, Polish mansard roof, as of now clad with sheet metal. The two-storey portico forms the building’s body on the western side. In the one-storey part, it rests on three solid, brick archways. The central one is not walled up. This archway leads to the main entrance to the building. In the past, under the side archways, there were entrances to the narthex on the upper floor; currently the stairs do not exist. There are four brick columns with faux Tuscan capitals on the upper storey of the archway. Behind the columns on the upper storey, in the western wall, there is a door opening to the narthex. Traces of plaster are found on columns, archways and the western wall, as the building was plastered in the inter-war period. Side walls and the front wall behind the portico are crowned with a cornice with a lavish profile in the classic form. Alignment of walls is accentuated by flat pilasters. In the northern, eastern and southern walls of the prayer room, between pilasters, there are semi-circularly terminated window openings with partially preserved woodwork and panes. An additional window opening placed in the upper part of the pilaster, illuminating the prayer room, is found in the eastern wall. Inside the building, the floor in the prayer house is lowered compared to the vestibule. It was built in more recent times, as we have not found any traces of the application of bimah. An altar niche, formerly housing Aron ha-Kodesh, has been preserved along the eastern wall’s axis. Entrance to the prayer room ran through the semi-circularly terminated door opening positioned along the western wall’s axis. A room leading to the narthex part located on the upper floor was found in the southern part of the vestibule. There are traces of a balustrade separating the narthex from the prayer room in the narthex part. The narthex was illuminated by two windows in the northern and southern walls, while the entrance was routed through a door opening cut out in the western wall. Rafter and purlin roof truss, characteristic for the Polish mansard roof, has survived. The walls include visible traces of a wooden ceiling spiked to the existing wooden beams. The narthex floor is located on its primary level.

The structure is not open to visitors due to bad technical condition.

Compiled by Katarzyna Kosior, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Warsaw, 29-10-2014.

Bibliography

• A. Penkala, Zespół Synagogalny w Ciepielowie, Radom 1984 r.
• A. Krzak, w. Lubieniecki, Ciepielów - serwis fotograficzny, Radom 1983 r.
• Karta ewidencyjna zabytku architektury i budownictwa tzw Karta Biała, L. Łącki, kwiecień 1998 r.
• Atlas Zabytków Architektury w Polsce, H. Faryna-Paszkiewicz, M. Omilanowska, R.Pasieczny, Wydawnictwo naukowe PWN. Warszawa 2003 r.
• J. Żabicki, Leksykon zabytków architektury Mazowsza i Podlasia, Arkady, Warszawa 2010 r.