A 300-Year-Old Synagogue Comes Back to Life in Poland

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Ruth Ellen Gruber

Laura Brown, a co-founder of Handshouse Studio with a scale model of the synagogue.

POLAND - The Gwozdziec Synagogue, built in the 17th and 18th centuries. Here, in the foothills of the Carpathians, an international crew of master timber craftsmen and students has been working on an intensely hands-on project that combines history, art and education. They are building a replica of the tall peaked roof and inner cupola of an ornate wooden synagogue that stood for 300 years in the town of Gwozdziec, now in Ukraine. Constructing the replica is a joint project of the museum in Warsaw and the Handshouse Studio, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit organization that emphasizes learning by building, particularly the reconstruction of historical structures and other objects. “There are certain things you can learn by making it that you can’t learn any other way,” said Rick Brown, who founded and directs Handshouse with his wife, Laura. “Every time you pick up a tool or start a process or use a certain material, embedded in that is a very rich, almost unlimited learning experience.”[link]