2024-07-26 12:22:24
Archaeologists in Vilnius unearthed floor fragments of the Great Synagogue, which show the extent to which the 17th century synagogue was destroyed by successive Nazi and Soviet occupiers in the last century, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said on Thursday.
The finds, dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, included parts of the synagogue’s women’s section, huge water tanks used to keep the synagogue’s ritual pool clean, and a giant column, now toppled on its side, that stood next to the Torah reading platform, the IAA said in a statement.
“The architectural richness and vibrancy we encountered, along with the impressive giant columns that collapsed when the Nazis and Soviets destroyed the synagogue, tell the tragic story of a community that lived here and is no more,” said excavation leaders Jon Seligman and Justin Rak.
The excavations, organized by the IAA, the Lithuanian Archaeological Association, the Goodwill Foundation and the Lithuanian Jewish Community, were the fifth since 2015. Vilnius Great Synagogue. Previous excavations uncovered the synagogue’s Torah reading platform.
A section newly uncovered by archaeologists showed that the floor of the synagogue was decorated with red, white and black floral patterns.
1941-1944 during the Nazi occupation, the synagogue was burned down, and from the end of World War II until 1990. The Soviet government that ruled Lithuania demolished it.
In its heyday, the Great Synagogue stood at the center of a complex of community institutions called the Shulhoif, which included other smaller synagogues, a community council building, ritual pools, study houses, a library, and the home of Vilnius Rabbi Eliyahu, better known as the Vilnius Gaon.
The famous Gaon – literally “genius”, the title of classical Babylonian yeshiva leaders – was the most important in the 18th century. The figure of European Jews. The Gaon consolidated the position of Vilnius as a center of Jewish science and earned it the nickname “Jerusalem of Lithuania”.
19th century Vilnius was annexed to Tsarist Russia. He for the part of the empire where the Jews were allowed to settle.
During the rule of the Soviets, the Great Synagogue of Vilnius, like almost all the approximately 5,000 synagogues in the country, was closed. 20th century it was demolished in the mid-1950s. A school was built on its ruins, writes the Times of Israel.
2024-07-26 12:22:24