Sataniv

In Sataniv the cemetery sits on a high hill with a very sharp face overlooking the Zbruch River and the town of Sataniv.  We could see several stones that had toppled over the edge and more that were on the verge of doing that.  The cemetery was one of the larger that we have seen outside of a major city.  It appeared that cattle grazed regularly in the cemetery.  We saw five or six cows and three cow herders during our visit.  The cemetery appears to be relatively undisturbed by humans.  The cows control the vegetation.  There is danger that stones near the face of the hill will eventually topple over. 

There were several hundred stones in the cemetery, most of them badly weathered, although we could still see some very nice designs.  Some of the stones featured raised inscriptions which we have seldom seen.  Other stones displayed unusual triangular shapes as well as variations on triangular shapes.  We also saw several stones with the cylindrical horizontal piece like those we saw at Chemerivtsi earlier during out trip.  

After we left the cemetery, we drove to the synagogue.  As we were photographing the exterior, a man who lived across the street offered to unlock the door for us.  According to what he told us, he looks after the synagogue on a voluntary basis, and he refused a gratuity from us for unlocking the door.  The inside was in good condition.  There was still color and design visible in the area around the aron ha-kodesh.  The synagogue was quite large and featured a step-down entrance to the worship area and an aron ha-kodesh on the eastern wall.  The ceiling was without plaster so that the individual bricks showed through.  On the whole the synagogue was in very good condition for a building that has been abandoned.