The brick Jewish synagogue is located in the central part of the village, north of the state road, at the end of the original plot of the ground-floor synagogue, situated by the main road. The considerable size of the synagogue was built in the middle of the 19th century (there is also a surviving record from 1868). Construction apparently took more than a year, as it is not yet plotted on the 1869 map (or an earlier wooden one is shown). One of the largest Jewish communities in the region lived in Pečovská Nová Ves. Most Jews settled here in the 18th-19th centuries. References to their presence, including a rabbinate, date back to the end of the 18th century. Initially, the religious community had only a wooden synagogue, but in the middle of the 19th century they started to build a large brick synagogue (dimensions up to 20x13 m), which was quite interesting for the rural environment of the central Šariš region (even in the 19th century, stone buildings prevailed among the brick buildings). Its plan was rectangular, with east-west orientation, with high gables on the west and east facades. The interior was illuminated by large windows with segmental arches. The entrance was on the south side. The corners were decorated with mouldings and a moulded cornice ran under the roof. On the first floor there was a women's gallery with stairs leading to it in the western part. The architect is unknown. It apparently functioned until after the Second World War. It was then structurally altered, presumably for storage (perhaps loose), so the large windows were bricked up and small rectangular ones were made instead. With the exception of this structural intervention, it survives in almost its original state. The building began to degrade more significantly after its tin roof was damaged (the flood had first shingled there) around 2000. Since then, the roof has completely caved in and the walls and the entire interior are weathering much more quickly. At the current rate of deterioration it will be a complete ruin in a couple of years. This would be a great pity, as it is currently one of the few preserved rural synagogues in the Šariš region and indeed in eastern Slovakia. Most of the synagogues were destroyed during the Second World War. Those that survived were mostly wooden and have not been preserved to this day. The rural synagogue is therefore a rarity. At present, the only synagogues known in the region are in Bystro, converted into a fire station, in Raslavice (warehouse) and in Lemešany (barn/warehouse). The Pečov synagogue is clearly the largest, probably the oldest and, above all, the most valuable. It has preserved all the original architectural decoration, layout, parts of the stairs and the wooden structure of the women's gallery. There were also other Jewish buildings in the vicinity of the synagogue (a school, a mikveh and a slaughterhouse).
Source: village Pečovská Nová Ves - travels through history
Photo: www.synagogyslovenska.sk
