8 Kolobrzeska, Bydgoszcz, Poland
The Świętokrzyski Shtetl is an interactive museum operating in the building of the former synagogue in Chmielnik. Its aim is to provide visitors with knowledge about pre-war Jewish towns (shtetls) - once represented in large numbers in the Kielce region. Thanks to the use of modern technological solutions, the exhibition has a very strong impact on the senses of visitors and stimulates the imagination. The Świętokrzyski Shtetl has become a multimedia memory center where viewers can take a virtual tour of the Jewish shtetl using intuitive touch screens and multimedia maps of the area. The atmosphere of a bustling market or a Jewish school is also created by properly arranged and selected sounds coming from the loudspeakers installed in the exhibition space. An important element of the design is a monumental, black, steel cube, symbolizing a house open to all sides of the world. Its interior creates another exhibition space where a permanent exhibition of Judaica is presented. The center of the exhibition of the Świętokrzyski Shtetl is a glass bimah modeled on an 18th-century original. Bima is the most important place in the synagogue. Most often it takes the form of a canopy, and during services it is from it that the priest reads the Torah. The Chmielnik bimah is unique on a global scale - all its elements, including the reading table of the Pentateuch, were made of large-format glass. Świętokrzyski Shtetl evokes the memory of old Poland, in which there were several dozen shtetls, i.e. small Jewish towns.
Please note that ITS-Poland works with groups only (10 participants and more).
