{"id":9152,"date":"2026-07-28T12:56:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T10:56:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gvf.lt\/en\/?p=9152"},"modified":"2026-07-28T13:20:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T11:20:21","slug":"the-great-synagogue-of-vilna-vilnius-reemerges-from-the-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gvf.lt\/en\/2026\/07\/28\/the-great-synagogue-of-vilna-vilnius-reemerges-from-the-ground\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Synagogue of Vilna (Vilnius) Reemerges from the Ground"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Israel Antiquities Authority, Kult\u016bros paveldo I\u0161saugojimo paj\u0117gos, the Good Will Foundation, and the Jewish Community of Lithuania are pleased to announce the results of the sixth season of excavation at the Great Synagogue of Vilna (Vilnius) & the Shulhoyf.<\/p>\n

This year’s excavation, led by Dr. Jon Seligman of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Justinas Racas of the Kult\u016bros paveldo I\u0161saugojimo paj\u0117gos, with a mixed team of Lithuanian and Israelis, is part of ongoing efforts to develop the site for the benefit of the Lithuanian Jewish community and the general public, including the preservation and presentation of the remains of the Great Synagogue destroyed by the Soviet authorities in the late 1950s.<\/p>\n

The current excavations are being financed by the Good Will Foundation and have been conducted over multiple years since 2011.<\/p>\n

For the first time extensive sections of the main prayer hall, the ezrat nashim<\/em> (women;s section) and the huge central Bimah of synagogue, set between four massive columns has been fully exposed after the demolition last year of the school building that once covered the site. As a result, the excavation team was able to reveal the colourful terrazzo floor, comprised of beautiful floral and geometric designs that covered the floors of both the Bimah and the entire synagogue (image).<\/p>\n

In the past we have recovered two seating plaques, giving insight on the life and people who prayed in the synagogue. This year multiple plaques were reveled providing names of women praying in the women\u2019s gallery, men seated on the wooden stalls and members of societies involved in the management of the lost Jewish community. The most interesting plaque was for a seat sponsored by \u2018Gitel Klachek, the wife of the late Yechezkel, the shamash<\/em> (sexton) of the city\u2019 (image). The Klachek family was a wealthy family with many businesses in the streets surrounding the Great Synagogue.<\/p>\n

Other interesting finds include a Pesach plate, a dreidel<\/em>, a prayer plaque for Yom Kippur and a library plague inscribed with the Ten Commandments. All these finds remind us that this historic site was for centuries the centre of Jewish life in Vilnius.<\/p>\n

Once completed, the remains of the Great Synagogue of Vilna will be preserved and protected and available for viewing as part of a larger project to return Jewish communal life to this place.<\/p>\n