Great Mikveh Kraków

Monuments

Pomarańczowy, murowany budynek Mykwa Wielka na Kazimierzu. Przed budynkiem spora ilość zielonych krzewów i ulica brukowana. Od lewej budynek parterowy z dwoma oknami łączy się z dalszą częścią budynku jednopiętrowego z poddaszem, po cztery okna na piętrze. Dalej przechodzi ponownie w budynek parterowy z dwoma oknami. Okna prostokątne. Dach lekko spadzisty. Nad oknami na parterze między innymi napis Klezmer-Hois oraz Hotel.

ul. Szeroka 6, 31-053 Kraków Tourist region: Kraków i okolice

The Kazimierz ritual bath – the mikveh, known as the Great at 6 Szeroka Street – was built in 1567. There are about forty steps leading down to the pool where the Jews performed their ritual cleansing because at this depth, the underground water table provides the bath with a natural source of water.Today, rebuilt after wartime destruction, the mikveh is once again in active use. Its building houses the Austeria Klezmer Hois – a klezmer house.

A mikveh probably existed in Kraków as early as the turn of the 15th century. However, the first recorded mention of the existence of this important institution for the Jewish community dates from 1567. The building of the Jewish ritual bath at 6 Szeroka Street is thought to have begun shortly before 1567. It was mentioned a little later in the statute of the municipality of 1595 (next to the other one, which was located in the vicinity of the Nowy Rynek and now no longer exists). In the 17th century, it was known as the 'Great Mikveh.'The mikveh continued to operate on the same site for centuries, and its building has been preserved to the present day. It is a stone-built, plastered building. The central part is two-storey, and the staircase is located there. One of the ground-floor rooms has a ceiling supported by four pillars. It is presumed that this is where the exit to the pool was. After all, one must imagine that there used to be a ritual bath 40 steps below the basement.To this day, fragments of the rubble stone wall, parts of the arcade and the layout of the rooms have been preserved in the cellars. The current appearance of the building dates from the early 19th century, when a major renovation was carried out. Later, the mikveh was renovated and modernised several more times. The bathhouse operated until the outbreak of the Second World War. It was demolished by the Germans during the occupation. Though the basement swimming pool was buried, it survived with other basement rooms. In the 1990s,the property was returned to the Jewish Community in Kraków. Initially, the rooms on the first floor were used as exhibition halls. In 1995, the municipality authorities agreed to locate a restaurant and a Klezmer-Hois hotel there. The Austeria Publishing House also has a bookshop here, and the mikveh is open to the public.

The building was entered in the register of monuments under number A-306 on 7 July 1966.