Paintit Illuminates a Synagogue in Historic Kyiv

“Make it so beautiful that I don’t want to leave here,” the caretakers of a Kyiv synagogue told Paintit architect Juliy Cherevko. Located on the first floor of a residential building on Podilin, the city’s historic district, the synagogue needed a lot of work to make it that irresistible.

Cherevko and his team at Paintit began with a little room-clearing, but as they pulled down the drywall, they discovered original brick with a rich patina. “We cleaned out every seam and polished every centimeter,” he says, paying particular attention to the “native” wall at the end of the hall. “We were obligated to pay due attention not only to the functional purpose,” of the space, Chervko explains, but to “all the canons and traditions.”

They also focused on light, fabricating 380 unique ceiling lamps. “Light has become an accentuation tool,” he says, “creating the atmosphere of comfort and emotional connection necessary for such places.” The simple interplay of shadow and form makes the synagogue somewhere those in search of illumination won’t just spend time in, but seek out on their own.