Other synagogues altered their new owners to serve different purposes and original character of building often disappeared (e.g. Huncovce, Krupina, Studienka, Skalica, Spišská Belá). Many of them stand without use in dilapidated condition and face imminent disappearance (e.g. Šaštín-Stráže, Príbeník, Veľká Ida, Stupava, Bytča). Empty and looted synagogues, whose communities disappeared together with their rabbis, cantors and Torah scrolls in flames of the Holocaust, remained in many Slovak towns as last witnesses of rich cultural past of one of once flourishing European Jewish communities.

Bytča

Stupava Hunovce

Currently, there are hundred-five identified synagogues and prayer halls in country. Few synagogues were painstakingly restored and are used for cultural purposes, though most of them met different destiny. Some had been demolished during World War II, while many more were destroyed during Communist totalitarian regime within framework of megalomaniac urban projects or as a result of targeted cleansing off of last traces of former Jewish presence in many cities (e.g. Galanta, Bratislava, Michalovce, Humenné, Hlohovec, Nové Mesto nad Váhom).

Michalovce

Preserved synagogue objects in Slovakia originate mostly from the 19th or first half of the 20th centuries.

Valuable buildings include: baroque synagogue in Svätý Jur, neo-Classical synagogues in Huncovce, Šarišské Lúky, Šaštín-Stráže and

Liptovský Mikuláš nine-bay synagogues had been preserved in Stupava and Bardejov once fashionable Moorish style, represent the synagogues of Malacky

(architect Wilhelm Stiassny), Vrbové and Prešov. leading architect of art nouveau synagogues Leopold (Lipót) Baumhorn

designed synagogues in Nitra and Lučenec, and restored synagogue in Liptovský Mikuláš

valuable art nouveau synagogue stands also in Trenčín synagogues in Bratislava (architect Artur Szalatnai-Slatinský), Košice

(architect Lajos Kozma) and Žilina (architect Peter Behrens) were constructed in the interwar period.

Leopold (Lipót) Baumhorn

Peter Behrens

Lajos Kozma

City of Košice features valuable grouping of Jewish monuments. This eastern Slovak city used to be prior to Holocaust a center with several Jewish communities representing broad spectrum of Jewish religious streams. Communal buildings of former Hassidic, Orthodox, Neolog and Status Quo Ante congregations, some of them with original inventory, had been preserved until these days.

Six precious Slovak Jewish heritage sites have been included into the European Routes of Jewish Heritage:

The Chatam Sofer Memorial, Bratislava The Zsigray Mansion (Museum of Jewish Culture), Bratislava The Heydukova Street Synagogue, Bratislava Status Quo Synagogue, Trnava The Jewish Communal Compound, Kosice The Jewish Communal Compound, Presov

Location: Halenárska 2, Trnava Present Use: modern art gallery, Judaica exhibition Date of Construction: 1897 Architect: Jakub Gartner

In the Middle Ages, Jews formed a vibrant community in Trnava. The synagogue was constructed in the late 19th century according to the designs of the Viennese synagogue specialist, Jakub Gartner, who was also an author of the synagogue in Hlohovec.

A free-standing structure made of unplastered bricks, it has a three-nave basilica scheme, with heightened central nave, and clerestory windows. The west façade reflects the internal division of space; it is tri-partite with corner stair-tower projections, topped by octagonal towers with copper onion-shaped roofs. The central part is accentuated by a blind arched gable topped with the Ten Commandments.

In the sanctuary, a women’s gallery, supported by cast iron columns, runs along three sides of the hall. During the 1990s, the sanctuary was partially restored and today serves as a modern art gallery.

A small Judaica presentation is installed in the women’s gallery. A Holocaust memorial designed by the architect Artur Szalatnai-Slatinský stands in front of the synagogue.

Present Use: active synagogue Date of Construction: 1923-1926 Architect: Artur Szalatnai-Slatinský Location: Heydukova 11-13, Bratislava

The only remaining synagogue in Bratislava, the Orthodox Heydukova Street synagogue is located not distant from the historic city center. It was constructed once the Jews did not reside exclusively in the area of former Judengasse, but moved to the broader area of the newly established political center of Slovakia.

To the street, the synagogue exterior appears as a seven-pillared colonnade, hiding actual building behind it. This is reached through a narrow courtyard, accessed from the street via a passage in the westernmost bay of the façade. The central hall of the interior is a large sanctuary with a modern steel-concrete construction combined with historicist elements, such as the arcade of the women’s gallery, a metallic bimah, and the ark. These were supplemented with contemporary Cubist details.

The synagogue belongs to the Bratislava Jewish Community and serves its original purpose until today.

This presentation has been created by Dominika Valachová,

Obchodná akadémia, 3.C

K. Kittenbergera 2

Levice, Slovakia