Address: 1. Maija Str 30, Ludza, Ludza municipality
Contacts:
+371 65723931
ludzasmuzejs@inbox.lv
www.ludzasmuzejs.lv
Ludza Great Synagogue is an oldest wooden synagogue in the Baltic States. It was built in 1800 as a wooden house and covered with red bricks. It is the only synagogue of 7 synagogues in Ludza, which survived in the course of time. During the war it was almost destroyed. It has just been restored and become a branch of Ludza Museum with a praying room, modern expositions dedicated to documentary film director Hetz Frank and his father – photographer Wolf Frank, and an exposition about Ludza Jewish people’s life.
Especially valuable are not only old wooden constructions, but also starred sky on the ceiling, the restored ornaments and furniture.
At the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century Ludza was often called Latvian Jerusalem, because about 59% of its population were Jewish. What happened to them? You can see a memorial in honour of the Jewish killed in 1941. The memorial is not far from the Synagogue, on the shore of the Small Lake of Ludza at the place where there was a ghetto during the war.
The Jewish cemetery is located on the opposite shore of the Small Lake of Ludza at Soikāna street.
Ask for an excursion at Ludza TIC and Ludza Museum.
visitludza.lv
The Big Ludza Synagogue, considering the amount of its authentic wooden details, can be called the oldest synagogue in Latvia and other Baltic countries. Wooden synagogues (the one in Ludza was built circa 1800, the one in Rezekne – in 1845) are unique monuments of Jewish culture in North-East Europe that in the other European regions were lost during the 20th century. It is supposed that in 700 years, about 700 synagogues were built in Eastern Europe. But the number of the remaining wooden synagogues in Europe doesnot exceed 4 or 5.
In the third quarter of the 19th century, when synagogue building began to develop technical problems, it was lined with a layer of bricks. The Big Synagogue is one of those few buildings that survived the big Ludza fire of 1938, when most of the city centre burnt down. Synagogue building was used as a temple until the 1980s. It maintained its original shape and form, the architectonic composition of the facade, wooden structural frame and the authentic room layout (hallway, praying room, separate praying room for women, storeroom (a room for studying sacral texts)). Intact were preserved also all the main furniture and decorative elements that present Jewish culture of the 18th and 19th centuries: a bimah with a reading desk, Aron Kodesh where Torah scroll was kept, various reading desks, writing desks, and benches.
In November 2013, The Big Ludza Synagogue was included into the list of Latvian cultural monuments as a unique landmark and a part of Ludza historical centre, which is a monument of urban planning.
In late 2014, Ludza district municipality began the implementation of a project “Restoration of The Big Ludza Synagogue and renewal of Jewish religious heritage”. The main activities were: restoration of the synagogue building, creation of expositions, craftsmen training, and exchange of experience with the partners – Hordaland museum centre (Norway). During the collaboration, wood examples were prepared for dendrochronological analysis. It was found that the most recent wood used in the synagogue dates back to 1781, which confirmed and specified the age of the synagogue, as well as amplified the buildings historical value.
Restoration works were carried for almost a year – from the 20th March 2015 until the 22nd January 2016. The buildings foundation was fortified; outer walls were restored but the red brick lining was taken down. Log walls were lined with wood planks, the wood part of the facade was coated with a primer and a layer of paint made of first cold press linseed oil. The historical tin-plated roof that was brought from Australia in 1930s was renovated and painted. The roofs wooden structure was fortified. Staircase was dismantled, a new foundation was built, and, using the recovered parts, the staircase was rebuilt. Old window frames were renovated or built anew after the example. The doors and the wooden flooring were restored on the second floor. In the hallway, a new floor was made using the dismantled facade wall bricks. The first floor was given a new wooden flooring and three stoves were built. The historical inside wall plastering was preserved (for about 65 %) and the paint layers on it were strengthened. The unique wooden cupola was also restored – the only one left in the Baltic region.
ludzasmuzejs.lv