Photography exhibition “Being Jewish. Vilnius Jewish Identity Project” was opened on the 12^th of April, 2013, in the Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum.  In the exhibition, presented by the Embassy of the Republic of Austria in Vilnius, Austrian Photographer Peter Rigaud is trying to answer the questions: „Who‘s a Jew?“, „How is individual Jewishness defined?“, „Who has allways felt as a Jew?“. Peter Rigaud was born in 1968 in Salzburg. Photographer studied in Berlin, lived in New York, Chicago and Vienna, where he acted on the inniciative of the Jewish Museum in Vienna, starting this exhibition as „Vienna‘s Jewish Identity Project“. From now on, it‘s a „Vilnius Jewish Identity Project“, as it was complemented by the photos of the Vilnius Jews, as well as their answers about the substantial question about the Jewish identity.

Director of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum Markas Zingeris, Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to Lithuania Helmut Koller and the Culinary Specialist and Musician Gidonas Šapiro, portraited in the exhibition, shared their thoughts during the opening ceremony.

Exhibition was opened until 2nd of June.

Greeting word by VGSJM Director Markas Zingeris

Greeting word by the Ambassador of Austria Helmut Koller

Moment from the opening of the exhibition

Gidonas Šapiro talks about the Jewish identity