Vul. Sianska, 05 – former Beit Hamidrash

17^th c. – a wooden Beit Hamidrash was built.
1793 – a stone Beit Hamidrash was built.
1863 – a reconstruction under a project designed by Józef Engel.
1912 – a reconstruction under a project designed by architects Włodzimierz Podhorodecki and Henryk Salver.
1941 – the Beit Hamidrash was blown up by the Nazis.

From the 17^th century each Lviv’s Jewish district, both the city one and the suburban one, had a separate Beit Hamidrash, which consisted of a Talmudic literature library, a study room and a prayer hall with the Aron Hakodesh and the bimah. That is why Batei Hamidrash were often called synagogues; unlike synagogues, however, they were heated. In Lviv, the first wooden Batei Hamidrash were built in the 17^th century, first in what is now the historic center and then in the suburbs.

After the Austrian rule was established in the late 18^th century, wooden buildings in Lviv’s Jewish districts were replaced with stone ones. In 1793, instead of the wooden suburban Beit Hamidrash a stone one was erected in front of the Great Synagogue on Bozhnycha (Sianska) street 5.

It was a single-tier structure with a large hall, whose vault was supported by massive pylons, illuminated from three sides through high arched windows. Women's prayer rooms were located at the western wall of the men's hall. In 1863 the Beit Hamidrash was reconstructed under a project designed by Józef Engel. Another tier was added over the prayer hall; three small prayer rooms, belonging to craftsmen’s societies, were arranged there.

Another reconstruction was carried out in 1912 by architects Włodzimierz Podhorodecki and Henryk Salver. It was then that the entrance door was lowered; a rectangular window of the shammes’ (sexton) room was arranged over it. A wooden building of the slaughterhouse was adjacent to the Beit Hamidrash from the north; it was dismantled in 1936.

At the suburban Beit Hamidrash, there was a big library of spiritual literature, accessible to everyone. The suburban Beit Hamidrash was blown up by the Nazis in autumn of 1941, along with the Great Synagogue. Today, there is a waste ground on the place where it was situated.