The Jewish cemetery in Modra was located on today’s Šúrska Street, which is the southern thoroughfare of the town. It was razed in 1960 and its land now belongs to the local municipality. However, it did not disappear into complete oblivion. In 1999, a group of local activists cleaned and marked the site of the cemetery. A granite plaque was mounted on the remaining cemetery wall. A matzevah (tombstone) was carefully reassembled from three fragments and is attached to the wall. It belongs to Samuel Blau, who passed way in 1850 at the age of 71. Another matzevah is a broken fragment with only the stone maker’s sign in Hebrew letters: Leicht Pressburg.
Throughout its history Modra has been a prosperous wine-growing town situated among the vineyards of the Small Carpathian hills. Its German-speaking inhabitants blocked the establishment of a Jewish presence for centuries. A small Jewish community was established here only during the second half of the 19th century. The synagogue, dating from 1902, is located on the southern edge of the historical part of the town, in the line of the town’s original fortification walls. The character of the building remains legible: a tri-partite façade vertically divided by lesenes and topped by an arched molding. Modern windows have replaced the historical round-arched fenestration and most of its decorative details have disappeared. The postwar owners completely altered the interior. The synagogue currently serves as a studio for an artist from Bratislava.
