The religious traditions of the Jewish people inLithuania are age-old. Many famous rabbis, cantors, Torah and Talmud scholars trace their origins here. Over centuries, important yeshivas and synagogues functioned in the country. During the XVI-XVIII a rich, distinctive synagogue architecture in wood as well as brick developed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the end of the XIX century, the number of synagogues in Vilnius alone exceeded one hundred.

The oldest and most notable among them was the Great Synagogue of Vilnius, which attracted scholars of Judaism and Jewish tradition throughout Europe. The renown of Gaon Eiyahu Ben Shlomo Zalman, the most eminent figure in Jewish thought and in Torah and Talmud interpretation of the XVIII century created a reference to Vilnius as the Jerusalem of Lithuania. The Great Synagogue became the symbol of such status.

Constructed at the turn of the XVI – XVII centuries, the edifice survived several attacks and fires. It was heavily damaged during World War II and demolished in the post-war years. The majestic edifice which had brought fame to the city over centuries disappeared from its architectural ensemble.

R. Chvoles. Iš ciklo į "Senasis Vilnius" . Vilniaus Didžiosios sinagogos bima. Apie 1945 m.

Testimony of its decorative and luxurious interior remains only in a small number of photographs and water-colors. Such valuable iconographic material, on display in the Museum, provides an intimation of its former grandeur.Three original details have survived: a cartouche with precepts of the Lord from the aron kodesh of the Synagogue, a candlestick with a decorative vertical shield from the cantor’s table, and a two-sided door from the aron kodesh.

Kartušas su Dievo Įstatymo plokštėmis

Kantoriaus piupitro žvakidė

All other items in the exhibition, although never actually used in the Great Synagogue, serve to recreate its former devotional atmosphere. After the closing of the Jewish Museum in 1949, these objects were scattered throughout various museums in Lithuania (ethnography, history of religion, and art). In 1990 they were reassembled in the reopened Jewish Museum.

Religious objects from former Lithuanian synagogues form part of the history of traditional Jewish art in the country. Together with surviving iconographic material they demonstrate the extent of Jewish religious activity throughout the country prior to World War II. Even small towns had their synagogues. The majority of them were built of wood. Their distinctive architecture and decorative features exhibit the specific traditions of Jewish folk art which had developed throughout the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Unfortunately only a small part of their formerly vast number still stand. They decay unattended. Most, like the Great Synagogue of Vilnius, remain only in photographs. Their black and white representations provide some indication of the former interiors. The exhibition includes drawings by G. Bagdonavicius of Siauliai who in the decade 1930-1940 immortalized many of them, including the Great Synagogue of Vilnius.

The surviving pictures provide only a fragmentary representation of a rich past. Taken together, they intimate the richness of traditional Jewish art ofLithuania at the time. They provide not only specific details but also a basis for reconstitution of the spiritual environment in the Great Synagogue of Vilnius.

Vilniaus Sinagogos kiemo vartai. 1945 m.