Editing Synagogue architecture (section)

====Synagogues with bimah-support====
[[File:Synagoga_w_Łańcucie_1.jpg|thumb|[[Łańcut Synagogue]], bimah-tower]]

In the second half of the 16th century masonry synagogues whose interiors present an original structural solution, found in no other kind of building, were constructed in the  Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. These were synagogue halls whose bimah was surrounded by four pillars. Placed upon a podium, connected above by [[Arcade (architecture)|arcading]], in one powerful pier, the pillars constituted the ''bimah-support'' (or ''bimah-tower'') supporting the vault, consisting of four barrels with [[lunette]]s intersecting at the corners. The bases of the vault-rips rested on the podium or were transmitted through a [[balustrade]], solid or pierced. A small [[cupola]] covered the field above the bimah. These cupolas were occasionally significantly lowered in comparison with the remaining fields of vaulting. Thus a kind of inner chapel, built inside the bimah-tower, was created.<ref>Maria und Kazimierz Piechotka: ''Landscape With Menorah: Jews in the towns and cities of the former Rzeczpospolita of Poland and Lithuania.'' Salix alba Press, Warsaw 2015. Page 73. {{ISBN|978-83-930937-7-9}}</ref>

One of the first synagogues with a bimah-support was the [[Old Synagogue (Przemyśl)]], which was destroyed during World War II. Synagogues with a bimah-tower were built up to the 19th century and the concept was adopted in various Central European countries.<ref>https://publikationsserver.tu-braunschweig.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/dbbs_derivate_00009149/Doktorarbeit.pdf Bimah-support. Retrieved July 29, 2019.</ref>