The wooden synagogue was created in preparation for the 80s anniversary of the tragedy in Babyn Yar. It was unveiled on May 14, 2021 at the end of the central avenue and next to the Menorah monument. It is a traditional place of mourning, prayer and commemoration of the victims of the tragedy for Jews. The date of the opening was not chosen by chance, because on that day Ukraine first celebrated the Day of Remembrance of Ukrainians who saved Jews during the Second World War.
The building is made in the form of a folding panorama, 11 meters high. Like a book, it opens and closes using special mechanisms. The synagogue is decorated with patterns and prayer texts that repeat the traditional painting of ancient synagogues in western Ukraine, in particular, in Khodoriv and Hvozdets villages, which were destroyed by the Nazis during the Second World War and the Holocaust. The ceiling is decorated with drawings in the form of a map of the starry sky, which reproduces the position of the stars on September 29, 1941 - the first day of mass executions in Babyn Yar. The synagogue is made of ancient oak wood, symbolizing the connection between the tragic events in Babyn Yar and the present - it was collected from old abandoned buildings from different parts of the country.
The author of the project is architect Manuel Hertz, a professor at the University of Basel in Switzerland, who also designed a unique synagogue in Mainz, Germany. Design and artistic works were performed by Ukrainian mechanics, engineers and artists.
Адрес: улица Елены Телиги, 31/1.
