The Great Synagogue in Tykocin - a synagogue located in Kaczorów in Tykocin at 2 Kozia Street, in the vicinity of the Small Market Square. It is currently the second largest and one of the oldest synagogues in Poland and one of the best preserved 17th century synagogues in Europe.
The synagogue was built in 1642 on the site of an older wooden synagogue. In the 18th century, a low tower was added to the north-east corner, which originally served as a prison for Jews. In the 1840s, the synagogue underwent a thorough renovation. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was a great Jewish intellectual center. Many well-known, respected rabbis and Talmudists worked there[2][3].
During World War II, in 1941, the Nazis devastated and looted the interior of the synagogue and used it as warehouses. After the end of the war, the synagogue was still used as a storage facility by the city authorities, but this time for artificial fertilizers. In 1965, a fire broke out in the synagogue, which completed the destruction of the building, the unique library and archives of the Jewish community burned down, and the remaining miraculously saved books were thrown into the nearby river[