Attraction

Popper Synagogue in Krakow: Austeria bookshop and history

A Baroque synagogue founded in 1620 by Wolf Popper on Szeroka Street in Kazimierz. Since 2017 it has housed the Austeria bookshop: you go in as a customer, as it is neither an active synagogue nor a museum.

Since 2017 the Popper Synagogue at ul. Szeroka 16, in the Kazimierz Jewish quarter, has housed the Austeria bookshop. You go in as you would into any bookshop: this is not an active synagogue or a museum, and there is no ticketed sightseeing. The Baroque synagogue was founded in 1620 by Wolf Popper, known as Bocian.

Popper Synagogue today: a bookshop in a former synagogue

The building belongs to the Jewish Religious Community in Krakow. It is also called the Bocian Synagogue and, because of its small size, commonly the Small Synagogue. Its life today is tied to the Austeria bookshop rather than to regular worship.

The synagogue was the founder's private foundation, as Austeria notes. The Community describes Wolf Popper as one of the richest Jews in Kazimierz, while Austeria calls him one of the richest Jewish merchants and financiers in the Krakow of his day.

History of the Popper Synagogue

After the founder's death an inheritance dispute broke out, and as a result the synagogue was handed over to the Jewish community of Kazimierz around 1653. It went through a major renovation only in 1827: a section for women was added, the roof and stairs were rebuilt, and the courtyard was closed off from Szeroka Street by a gate that still stands.

The Germans severely devastated the synagogue in the Second World War, and for several years after the war Jewish repatriates from the Soviet Union lived in it. In 1956 the city authorities assigned the building to a cultural centre and evicted the congregation, which protested against the decision and won. A thorough renovation followed in the 1960s, and afterwards, with the Community's consent, the building was for many years the home of the Old Town Youth Culture Centre (Staromiejskie Centrum Kultury Młodzieży).

What you can see at the Popper Synagogue

The gate on Szeroka Street: it dates from 1827 and closes off the courtyard. VisitMałopolska notes that the synagogue is hard to find, because it is built in between the townhouses.
The exhibition space: upstairs, in the former section for women, is the bookshop's exhibition space.
The former prayer hall: according to VisitMałopolska, the upper-floor annex, the stairs and the wooden porches were removed during conservation in the 1960s, and the hall was covered with a wooden barrel vault. The paintings that once decorated its walls and vault are now painted over in white.
The Ark doors, now in Jerusalem: VisitMałopolska writes that only the carved wooden doors of the aron ha-kodesh, the cabinet for the Torah scrolls, survived from the furnishings. They bear images of a lion, an eagle, a leopard and a deer, and after the war they went to a museum in Jerusalem.

Visiting the Popper Synagogue and the Austeria bookshop

Since 2017 the Popper Synagogue has housed the Austeria bookshop. You go in as a bookshop customer: it is not an active synagogue or a museum, and there is no ticketed sightseeing. Austeria does not publish the bookshop's opening hours, so we cannot give them here. We have no information on what is shown in the exhibition space upstairs or on when it is open. Details checked in October 2026; see Austeria's page about the bookshop in the Popper Synagogue.

Walking to the Popper Synagogue on Szeroka Street

The synagogue is on Szeroka Street, about 19 minutes' walk from the Main Market Square. The Old Synagogue stands on the same street, at ul. Szeroka 24, about two minutes away. The Remuh Synagogue and Cemetery, another synagogue of Kazimierz, is also about two minutes away. Our electric cart tour of Kazimierz runs along Szeroka Street, where the synagogue stands.

Visiting tips for Szeroka Street and the Popper Synagogue

Look for the gate at number 16: the synagogue itself is set between townhouses, behind the courtyard. Inside it you are a bookshop customer, so if you want to see a prayer hall, walk on to the Old Synagogue on the same street or to the Remuh Synagogue, each about two minutes away, or to Tempel Synagogue on Miodowa Street; their pages list hours and entry. The Isaac Synagogue is in the district too. Neither the High Synagogue, opened only now and then, nor Kupa Synagogue, closed to visitors, can be toured like a museum.