Remains of Transylvania’s Only Wooden Synagogue Were Discovered by Chance

Last summer, two young staff members of the Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives were tasked with organizing the institution’s attic, but their work led to an incredible discovery. They found fragments of an 18th-century wooden synagogue, which had been identified in 1911 by Rabbi Ferenc Löwy as "the oldest Jewish temple in Transylvania". An exhibition showcasing these remains opened yesterday at the museum.

Nearly three centuries-old, fading wooden planks are now on display at the Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives' new exhibition, titled Writing on the Wall, which opened on Sunday, February 2. 

While these planks might not seem significant to an untrained eye, museum staff members Mátyás Király and Balázs Som immediately recognized last summer that they had stumbled upon an extraordinary find in the attic. 

As mentioned at the exhibition’s opening event, Zsuzsa Toronyi, director of the Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives, had initially only asked the two young men to tidy up the attic. However, the researchers returned with remnants of the wooden synagogue of Náznánfalva, which was built in 1747 and destroyed in the first half of the 20th century.

The approximately 80–90 kilograms of wooden elements were brought to Budapest by György Balázs, a former museum staff member, by train from Marosvásárhely / Târgu Mureș in 1941. He knew that if he did not save these Hebrew-inscribed wooden fragments, nothing would remain of Transylvania’s only wooden synagogue. 

Thanks to his efforts, the remains survived. However, until recently, only two wooden panels had been known to experts. It was not until last summer, when Mátyás Király and Balázs Som accidentally discovered the painted planks, that it became clear that a significant portion of the Náznánfalva synagogue's remains had been waiting for rediscovery in the attic. 

Over the past six months, extensive research has been conducted by Mátyás Király and Tamás Lózsy to properly present this wooden synagogue in the newly opened exhibition. 

Rabbi Ferenc Löwy had previously written about it in the 1911 edition of the Hungarian Jewish Almanac, calling it "the oldest Jewish temple in Transylvania." Löwy remained interested in the subject for decades, and in 1934, he even took a journalist from Jerusalem to see the synagogue. However, they were saddened to find that due to the declining Jewish population in the area, the wooden synagogue had fallen into disrepair—a fate it ultimately met within a decade. 

The wooden elements displayed in the new exhibition at the Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives are invaluable not only because no other wooden synagogue was ever built in Hungary or Transylvania, apart from the one in Náznánfalva. 

But also because, even though wooden synagogues were widespread in Polish-Lithuanian territories from the 16th century onwards, the destruction caused by Nazism nearly erased them from Europe's built heritage. Today, only a handful remain in those regions. 

The Budapest exhibition also features the two previously known panels, but the true highlight is the collection of newly discovered, Hebrew-inscribed, painted, and restored wooden planks found last summer.

Why Was There "Writing on the Wall", why was Hebrew text on the planks? At the opening event, historian Viktória Bányai explained that the Hebrew texts on the planks had both sacred and practical purposes. In these early Jewish communities, many people could not afford their own prayer books, so they read biblical verses and prayers directly from the wooden walls.

The choice of material was also dictated by financial circumstances. Wealthier Jewish communities could afford to build synagogues from stone, but in Poland, Lithuania, and Transylvania, the poorer Jewish populations could only afford wooden synagogues.