Lesko Synagogue and Jewish Cemetery

The former synagogue in Lesko is one of the most interesting monuments of this small town, often called the gateway to the Bieszczady. The masonry house of prayer was built in 1626–1654 on the site of an earlier wooden one, on a hillside by the town ramparts. Lesko once had a large Jewish community; according to English Wikipedia, six synagogues were active here in the early 20th century, and only this building survived the Second World War. The Nazis devastated it and used it as a warehouse; after the war it stood abandoned, and in 1957 the roof collapsed. In 1960–1963 and in the 1970s it was restored, using an 1838 etching by Kajetan Kielisiński as the model. For more than forty years it has housed a gallery of the Bieszczady Cultural Centre.

The synagogue combines Mannerism and early Baroque, and some of its features are borrowed from defensive architecture. The walls are built of river stones and cut stone with some brick and are reinforced with buttresses. The gables are decorated with stone vases — Polish researchers call this the only example in Poland of "church-and-palace" gables on a synagogue. In 2026 the town completed the restoration of the façades, renewing the plaster, cornices and decorative details.

What to see

• The west front with the tablets of the Decalogue and the verse from Genesis (28:17): "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
• The round tower at the south-west corner with its original spiral staircase. Beneath it is a small vaulted room of about 2.5 × 2.5 m that once served as the community's prison.
• The main hall of roughly 14.8 × 10.6 m with arched niches, cornices and pilasters. On the east wall the frame of the Aron ha-Kodesh survives — two columns with a triangular pediment, a simplified copy of the ark in the Golden Rose synagogue in Lviv. The original furnishings are lost. A cast-iron, gazebo-like bimah once stood in the centre; its fragments were removed before 1947 and now serve as balcony railings on two houses — on Plac Konstytucji 3 Maja and on ul. Unii Brzeskiej. To the west the hall adjoins an annex that once held the women's section overlooking the hall.
• The "Bieszczadzkie Zadumania" gallery — a seasonal exhibition of works by artists connected with the Bieszczady.
• The Jewish cemetery (kirkut) on a hillside near the synagogue. It is first mentioned in 1611; about 2,000 matzevot survive on some 3 ha; the oldest bear no symbolic motifs, and the cemetery has no separate sections for men and women. The cemetery is fenced; keep to the paths and be careful and respectful.

Practical information

Address: ul. Berka Joselewicza 16, Lesko, in the town centre. Lesko lies on road no. 84 between Sanok and Ustrzyki Dolne, so it makes a convenient stop on the way into the Bieszczady. The building can be seen from outside at any time. The gallery in the main hall is open seasonally, from May to October; no exact 2026 schedule or prices are officially published, so phone the Bieszczady Cultural Centre before you go. Information as of October 2026.

Nearby

A few kilometres north are the ruins of Sobień Castle above the San. Further south-east is Lake Solina with its dam. To the south-west, in the Osława valley, stands the UNESCO wooden church in Turzańsk.

Photos: Annkes, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons; Henryk Bielamowicz, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Daniel.zolopa, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Sławomir Milejski, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons; Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons; Pietrasagh, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.