High Synagogue, Kraków

High Synagogue, Kraków tickets and tours: which one to book

No ticket for the High Synagogue alone is sold online. It operates as a small exhibition space, and you pay a modest admission charge at the desk inside the building on Jozefa Street; check locally for the current price and opening hours. The ground floor holds a bookshop specialising in Jewish history and culture, which you can browse without a ticket. Most people come to the synagogue as part of a broader visit to Kazimierz, the historic Jewish quarter of Krakow. Walking tours of the district are the most common way to see it with context: they usually last two to three hours, include a guide, and pass the Old Synagogue, the Remuh Synagogue and cemetery, the Isaac and Tempel synagogues and the squares where the film Schindler's List was shot.

Entry fees to the individual synagogues are usually extra and paid on the spot. Longer tours continue across the Vistula to the former wartime ghetto in Podgorze and Oskar Schindler's factory museum, and some are done by electric cart rather than on foot. If you have only an hour, visit independently and combine the High Synagogue with the Remuh and Old synagogues nearby. If you want the story of the community before and during the war told properly, a guided Kazimierz walk is well worth booking. The page lists any GetYourGuide tours whose route passes the synagogue.

Visiting High Synagogue, Kraków: what to see and how to behave

The High Synagogue takes its name from its unusual plan: the prayer hall was placed on the upper floor, above a row of shops at street level, something rare in the Polish synagogues of the time. It was built in the 1550s and 1560s in the late Renaissance style, after a wealthy merchant named Israel obtained permission from King Sigismund Augustus, and it was the third synagogue to rise in Kazimierz. Some historians think its founders may have been Sephardic Jews who had come from Italy or Greece. Climb the stairs to the former prayer hall. Very little of its furnishing survives, because the German occupiers stripped the interior in 1939, and the roof and ceiling were altered after the war. What remains is remarkable, though.

On the east wall stands a stone Torah ark niche, considered the oldest and largest Renaissance example in Poland, framed by fluted pillars and topped with two carved griffins that once held a crown. Around the walls, conservators uncovered fragments of painted decoration, including texts and images, in the early 2000s; look closely, as they are faint. Temporary exhibitions, often of photographs, cover Jewish life in Krakow between the wars. The building is a museum rather than a place of worship, so there are no special rules beyond quiet behaviour. Photography is usually allowed. The synagogue stands at Jozefa 38, a short walk from Szeroka Street, the heart of old Kazimierz. From the Main Square it is about 20 minutes on foot past Wawel, or a few stops by tram to Plac Wolnica or Miodowa.

High Synagogue, Kraków: opening hours, ceremonies and the best time to go

The synagogue opens during normal museum hours, usually from mid-morning to early evening, with longer days in summer; check locally, as opening times change by season and Jewish holidays can affect access to the sites around it. Weekday mornings are the quietest time in Kazimierz, before the walking groups fill Szeroka Street. Remember that the Remuh Synagogue, the one working synagogue on most itineraries, is closed to visitors on Saturdays. Krakow is pleasant from April to October, and May, June and September are the best months for walking.

The Jewish Culture Festival, held each year in late June and early July, fills the district with concerts, lectures and workshops and ends with a large open-air concert on Szeroka Street; it is the liveliest time to come, but book accommodation early. Winter is cold, though the quieter streets have their own atmosphere. Allow 30 to 45 minutes for the High Synagogue. Combine it with the Old Synagogue museum, the Remuh Synagogue and cemetery, the Galicia Jewish Museum and a meal in Kazimierz.