Attraction

High Synagogue in Krakow: history and what you can see

A 16th-century synagogue on Józefa Street in Kazimierz, named after its prayer hall on an upper floor above shops. The interior is not regularly open to visitors; you can see the building from outside and sometimes go in during cultural events.

The High Synagogue stands at ul. Józefa 38 in Krakow's Kazimierz Jewish quarter. Its interior is not regularly open to visitors: you can see the building from outside, and sometimes you can go in during cultural events. It was built in the 16th century under a privilege of King Sigismund II Augustus, with money from a donor whose name we do not know.

High Synagogue: a prayer hall above the shops

The founder raised the prayer hall over shops on the ground floor, and the ground floor and cellars held trading premises. The name comes from this: the prayer hall was upstairs. The Jewish Religious Community in Krakow compares the construction to the synagogues of the Venetian ghetto, where floors for a synagogue were added on top of houses, and calls it a unique building by Central European standards. It is a masonry Renaissance building on a rectangular plan.

Today it no longer serves as a regular synagogue; it is used now and then for exhibitions, concerts and meetings. In 2008 the Community recovered part of the building.

History of the High Synagogue

The Community dates the synagogue to around 1556. During the Swedish invasion known as the Deluge, in 1657, it was wrecked and later restored. At the end of the 19th century a building was added (today ul. Józefa 36), with a gallery for women and a second prayer room upstairs. During the Second World War the Germans devastated the synagogue and stripped it of its liturgical furnishings; after the war it was used as a warehouse.

In 1966 the building was handed over to the Monument Conservation Workshops (Pracownia Konserwacji Zabytków), which renovated it. That was when the glazed structure on the roof was built and the wall paintings were secured. According to VisitMałopolska, the interior keeps an alms box by the entrance and fragments of 17th-century wall paintings, uncovered and conserved in the 1960s, and between the windows a quotation from the Book of Genesis with the date of the synagogue's renovation, 1863.

What you can see of the High Synagogue from the street

The south wall: the wall facing Józefa Street is propped by four buttresses. Between them, at the level of the first and second floors, are three tall windows with rounded tops.
The glazed roof: from the street you can see the glazed gables of the roof, made when the conservation workshops adapted the building.
The portal: a carved late-Renaissance doorway leads into the building.
The memorial plaque: on the outer wall, with a Star of David, the Yiddish name hojche szul and a Polish text that reads, in translation: "This building housed the High Synagogue, built in the 16th century, destroyed in 1939 by the German occupation authorities".

Can you visit the High Synagogue?

The interior of the High Synagogue is not regularly open to visitors; you can see the building from outside. Sometimes it is possible to go in during cultural events. In July 2026, for example, during the Jewish Culture Festival, an exhibition was shown on the upper floor. The Jewish Religious Community in Krakow publishes no opening hours or visiting details for this building, and it is not among the synagogues the Community opens to visitors, so their hours do not apply here. Details checked in October 2026; for the synagogues of Kazimierz, see the website of the Jewish Religious Community in Krakow.

Getting to the High Synagogue on foot

The synagogue is on Józefa Street, about two minutes' walk from the Old Synagogue, about three minutes from Plac Nowy and about 20 minutes from the Main Market Square. Our electric cart tour of Kazimierz runs along Józefa Street, where the synagogue stands.

Tips for the High Synagogue on Józefa Street

The plaque, the carved portal and the buttressed south wall can all be seen from the pavement of Józefa Street. One object from this synagogue can be seen indoors: according to VisitMałopolska, a Baroque Hanukkah lamp from the 17th century, which survived from its furnishings, is on show in the exhibition at the Old Synagogue. For a full synagogue interior, our pages on Tempel Synagogue and the Remuh Synagogue and Cemetery give hours and entry details. The Isaac Synagogue also stands in Kazimierz, while Kupa Synagogue admits no visitors and the Popper Synagogue is now a bookshop.

High Synagogue: frequently asked questions

Can you go inside the High Synagogue in Krakow?

Not on a regular basis. The building is opened for occasional cultural events, such as an exhibition during the Jewish Culture Festival in July 2026, but there are no published visiting hours.