Ruzhany. The Synagogue.

If you visit the town of Ruzhany in the Pruzhany district, first of all you will be shown the Sapieha Palace, which is currently under restoration and in which a museum was opened a few years ago.

 And if you come to the center of the town on the former shopping square, then there you will visit two architectural dominants: the Catholic Trinity Church of the 17th century and the Orthodox Peter and Paul Church of the 18th century.

In those days of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Russian Empire, when the appearance of the shopping area was being formed, a large number of the Jewish population lived in Ruzhany.

And there were several synagogues in the town. One of them, a stone synagogue, has been preserved to our time on the former Market Square. You need to walk along the Orthodox church and the stone two-storey Basilan monastery into the courtyard and you will see a large stone synagogue.

 This synagogue is one of the largest stone synagogues in Belarus. The Jewish shrine was built at the end of the 18th century. A yeshiva was built nearby, a school where rabbis were trained. The synagogue operated until 1939, before the arrival of Soviet power. After the war, the building housed first a warehouse, then a mill, and then a boiler room and even a garage.

 The building is a one-story stone building with a four-pitched roof. The interior has preserved a bima and partially frescoes. The monument has fallen into disrepair in recent years. Restoration is required.