Excerpt: ‘The return of the Sacrum – Jewish Cultural Centre in Sokolow Malopolski’ is an architecture thesis by Ewa Pokrzywa from Cracow University of Technology – Faculty of Architecture, that seeks to preserve and share the rich Jewish heritage while honouring the cemetery’s legacy by bridging the historical and contemporary. The project also addresses how a community’s local design influences its ability to change its attitudes and what opportunities it presents for development.
Introduction: In Poland, not a single Jewish cemetery remains unaltered, either in major or minor ways. Family members can’t locate the graves of their loved ones since thousands of graves have been demolished. That is the case with Sokolow Malopolski’s Jewish cemetery. It was a major location on the city map when it was established in the seventeenth century. Unfortunately, the area was confined to a warehouse function as a result of the war and socialist rule. At present, scrap, coal and building supplies are stored there. A small ohel with plaques honouring the Tzaddikim is all that remains of the sacred site, defining its memory. But the cubage hides another use for truck scales that further ruins the area.
The project aims to conserve the area’s sacred space while transforming it into a Centre for Jewish Culture. This centre would conduct research on Jewish history and provide reading rooms, exhibitions, lecture halls, and community spaces for the local community’s education. Above all, the proposal honours the ohel by keeping it reserved solely for Jewish visitors as a space for prayer and introspection.
Save
