The Paracca Family of Architects and Druja Synagogue: Magnate Patrons and Jewish Clients of Eighteenth-century “Vilnius Baroque”

Abstract

This article explores Jews’ role in mediating artistic exchange between Italy and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the eighteenth century, through a case study examining the cultural and historical context surrounding the construction of the Druja synagogue (ca. 1765-1766) by the Paracca family of immigrant Italian architects and masons, for the burgeoning Jewish community affiliated with the region’s reigning noble families. The article explores the circumstances surrounding the Druja synagogue as a manifestation of the so-called “Vilnius Baroque” school of late Baroque-Rococo architecture in the Grand Duchy. The synagogue design reanimated the grandeur of the past and represented notions of Italy in honor of Baltic Catholic patrons and Jewish clients. Jews emerge as scions and mediators of the geopolitical, spiritual and cultural crossroads at Druja, a historical inflection point when emerging divisions of conceptual geography gave rise to the notion of an “eastern Europe.”