Restoration of Tempel Synagogue

Tempel Synagogue, used during World War" as a stable by Nazi occupying forces and afterwards neglected for decades, was once the most magnificent synagogue in Krakow. Today it is restored to its original splendor. Tempel is one of only seven synagogues in Krakow to have survived the war and is the only intact nineteenth-century synagogue left in Poland. The war decimated Krakow's Jewish population-60,OOO in 1939, only a few hundred today-and the synagogue was essentially abandoned. But in 1990-less than a year after the fall of Communism in Poland-a new era of open discussion and examination of Polish-Jewish relations was already beginning. The United Jewish Appeal chose Tempel as the site of a "Concert of Remembrance and Reconciliation" featuring the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra. The city cleared decades of debris from the building in preparation for the concert, and a packed house marveled at the splendid interior that had rarely been seen since the war