Tempel Synagogue, Kraków

The Tempel Synagogue stands apart with a facade of intricate Moorish Revival patterns and a tall, arched entrance crowned by two stone Tablets of the Law. Built in the eighteen sixties for Kraków's progressive Jewish community, the building held services conducted in German and Polish rather than Hebrew. When Nazi forces occupied the city in nineteen thirty-nine, they turned the sanctuary into a stable and storage depot for their horses, stripping the interior of its rich silver ornaments and velvet hangings.