Nożyk Synagogue: Warsaw’s Only Pre-War Synagogue Still in Use

Of the approximately four hundred synagogues that once existed in Warsaw, the Nożyk Synagogue at 6 Twarda Street is the only pre-war one to have survived the Second World War and to continue serving its original purpose, according to the Jewish Community of Warsaw. It remains a living place of worship and houses the office of the Chief Rabbi of Poland, a position held by Rabbi Michael Schudrich since 2004.

The synagogue was founded by the Warsaw merchant and philanthropist Zalman Nożyk and his wife Rywka, who bought the Twarda Street plot in 1892 and built the synagogue between 1898 and 1902. It was designed by architects Władysław Kozłowski and Jan Pianko, with construction supervised by Leon Czosnowski, in the Neo-Romanesque style with Byzantine and Moorish influences. It was officially inaugurated on 25 May 1902, during the festival of Lag BaOmer.

At its inauguration the interior accommodated around 800 worshippers (today approximately 350) and featured gas lighting, central heating and ventilation. The women’s gallery rests on cast-iron columns, the dome crowned with a Star of David stands on eight columns of Carrara granite, and the eastern wall with the Holy Ark is faced with marble. After the founders’ deaths (Zalman in 1903, Rywka in 1914) the synagogue passed to the Warsaw Jewish Community under the condition that it keep its full name and Orthodox character. From 1933 its cantor was the internationally acclaimed Gerszon Sirota.

During the German occupation the building stood within the so-called Small Ghetto. Vandalised and used among other things as a storehouse for horse fodder, its structure survived, and a provisional reconstruction completed in 1951 allowed survivors to gather there again. Closed after the events of March 1968, it reopened on 18 April 1983 following a six-year restoration, on the fortieth anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Today the synagogue hosts daily services, Sabbath and festival prayers, weddings and bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies, as well as concerts, exhibitions and lectures. The community welcomes both worshippers and visitors. In 2024 the synagogue’s northern façade underwent conservation, financed with funding from the Ministry of the Interior and Administration.