Zinar Castle

This smallest of the seven synagogues in Kraków stood out from the rest for many years due to its much more modest interior. After the renovation in April 2016, it became the main place of prayer for members of the Jewish community in Krakow.

The word Remu is the first acronym of the Hebrew writing "Rabbi Mojżesz Isserles". The Remuh synagogue took its name from this scholar and rabbi, and the Hebrew inscription on the gate at Szeroka Street says that we are entering the New Synagogue of Remuh of blessed memory. After a thorough renovation completed in April 2016, it became the main place of prayer for members of the Jewish community in Krakow.

The permit for the construction of a synagogue (and in fact for the conversion of one's own house into a synagogue) was obtained from King Sigismund II Augustus himself by a wealthy merchant Isserl ben Józef. It was supposed to be a gift for his son Mojżesz Isserles, who was the rabbi of Kraków and the rector of the local yeshiva (Talmudic school). He also wrote works on religion, philosophy, mysticism, and the natural sciences, and was the most prominent codifier of Ashkenazi law (i.e. the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe). His ritual code, entitled Mappa (The Tablecloth), is still used today by Orthodox Jews around the world. Although the synagogue was built in the mid-16th century, it is difficult to find any distinctly Renaissance features in it today. The enormous stone buttresses (buttresses) supporting the relatively small building are noteworthy.

In 1968 it was visited by the then Archbishop of Krakow, Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, and in 1992, the President of Israel, Chaim Herzog, prayed here. In January 2016, a bench commemorating Jan Karski, the hero of the Polish Underground State, a witness to the Holocaust and a diplomat was erected on the square in front of the synagogue.

The synagogue is adjacent to the Remuh cemetery, which is several years older than the synagogue, because the first burials are dated one year. 1551. It was closed at the beginning of the 19th century. Before the last war, it was a rather neglected place, with only a few dozen tombstones, and the Nazis also arranged a garbage dump here.

When in 1956 it was finally cleaned up, a sensational discovery was made. About 700 tombstones from the period from the second half of the 16th to the first half of the 19th century, covered with a thick layer of earth, were found. Usually incomplete and damaged, they were covered with relief ornaments typical of Jewish decorative arts. Among them there is, for example, a crown symbolizing the virtues and pious life of the deceased, grape leaves on the rabbis' graves as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and maturity, or a jug and a bowl - signifying belonging to the Levite family, who perform auxiliary functions in the temple. Today, there are 711 tombstones, some in the tomb type, others - in the form of free-standing slabs, i.e. matzevot. The fragments of the slabs that could not be saved were incorporated into the wall on the side of Szeroka Street, creating the so-called a wailing wall.

Jews from all over the world are drawn here by the tomb of Moses Isserles (died 1572). Most leave cards with requests (that is, flourish), in the hope that Remuh will intercede with God for them. His grave is the only one in the cemetery that was not damaged during the war. His rescue is attributed to a miraculous intervention - the story was repeated that a German who wanted to destroy the tombstone was struck by lightning. The matzevah has a 16th-century inscription: From Moses [the prophet] to Moses [Isserles], there was no such Moses. It proves the great respect that Remuh enjoys among Jews.

After Kazimierz was annexed to Krakow (1800), the Remuh cemetery was closed by the decision of the Austrian authorities, as were all church cemeteries in Krakow, usually located next to compact residential buildings. The new cemetery was established on the outskirts of the village of Grzegórzki, at today's 55 Miodowa Street. Currently, the cemetery covers almost 19 ha and has approx. 10,000 inhabitants. tombstones (the oldest from 1809). The most eminent Krakow Jews from the nineteenth century to the present day are buried here, incl. painter Maurycy Gottlieb (died 1879) and the vice-mayor of the city Józef Sare (died 1929).