Muzeum turistiky / Tourism Museum - Bechyne (South Bohemia)
N 49° 17.794 E 014° 28.157
33U E 461413 N 5460560
The depicted neo-Romanesque synagogue in Bechyne, built on the site of an older building in 1872, currently houses a small Museum of Tourism.
Waymark Code: WM12CJF
Location: Jihočeský kraj, Czechia
Date Posted: 04/28/2020
Views: 12
The depicted neo-Romanesque synagogue in Bechyne, built on the site of an older building in 1872, currently houses a small Museum of Tourism.
The exhibition maps the history of the Czech Tourists' Club, its important personalities and its rich many years of activity. An interactive plastic map showing lookout towers in the Czech Republic is worth seeing. There is also a collection of tourist badges and a number of historical guides and maps. In a separate part, it is possible to visit the exhibition mapping the history of the Jewish community in the Bechyne region.
After 1990, the renewed Czech Tourists' Club (Klub ceských turistu-KCT) was looking for a suitable object for its museum planned for decades. Jan Havelka, the then chairman of the KCT, took the opportunity to obtain a vacated bastion from the medieval fortifications in Bechyne. Seven years later, he discovered a dilapidated Jewish synagogue nearby. The KCT managed to lease the building from Jewish community, reconstruct it and make the museum accessible to the public in 2006.
The neo-Romanesque synagogue, built on the site of an older building in 1872, demonstrates the number and importance of the Jewish community in Bechyne in the second half of the 19th century. Synagogue was built by the city walls in a simple Classicist form with a neo-Romanesque facade according to the project of architect Karel Hamer. The building forms part of a Jewish alley (now Široká Street) mentioned around 1717. Former synagogue served as a Fire-fighting museum after WWII, currently is building owned by the Jewish community and is leased to the Czech Tourists Club. The former synagogue is part of the Bechyne town protected monument zone.
Source: excerpted and translated from
Wikipedia
and
National Heritage Institute portal.