Synagogue Roof Almost Finished

20 June 2011

After a month of timber work, construction of the Gwoździec synagogue roof is almost complete. According to the project coordinator, the roof soon will be lifted and assembled.   

Anyone who has seen the empty yard at the Open-Air Folk Architecture Museum in Sanok would be astonished by the number of finished logs, rafters and beams that were assembled into the first artefact of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. After checking whether all elements fit with one another, the team was left with finishing work, last-minute timber-work cosmetics and then the great clean-up. At the end of all this the roof will be disassembled, transported to Warsaw and re-assembled at its ultimate location – the Museum’s Into the Country  gallery.

Considering that every piece of timber is processed by hand using traditional methods and tools, the progress is truly impressive.  Log walls – traditional full walls joined in corners – are ready in 80%. As for hewing, only five logs remain in production, so the wall builders have over 90% of the materials they need and will have the balance in hand shortly.

The box framers have done all the work at the level of the box frame plates, plus two out of the four walls are complete and the second two are in production. Out of some 170 pieces, there are 64 still in the works, putting the box frame joinery over 60% complete by the book.  

The rafter crew is working on the last truss. This leaves them the final rafter truss plus the ridge truss assembly. They have 38 of 59 pieces done, technically making their joinery 64% complete, but considering minimal joinery in the ridge truss, the true figure is again closer to 80%.

Of the 84 curved ribs that need to made, all are done but 4, which amounts to 95% completion. The cupola sills and crowns remain, but have little or no joinery on them. So the cupola beam conversion is 25% complete. The crew is tooled up and stands ready to jump on cupola boards as soon as they arrive at the Open-Air Museum.

Work is progressing smoothly and more or less on schedule. Even though the team may be one or two days late, it is not a problem – the most difficult part of the work is already complete.  

The reconstruction of the roof of the wooden synagogue in Gwoździec is made possible thanks to the generosity of Ms. Irene Pletka, Distinguished Benefactor of the Museum.

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