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Central Bimah of Vilna Great Synagogue Fully Exposed

The reveal will enable preservation, documentation, public presentation to benefit Lithuania’s Jewish community as well as the public.

Overview

  • Excavators said Tuesday that this season’s work fully exposed the synagogue’s large central bimah, revealing continuous sections of the prayer hall previously hidden beneath a later school building.
  • Teams uncovered colourful terrazzo floors, parts of the women’s gallery and many brass seat plaques that bear the names of worshippers and of seats reserved for a major charitable society.
  • Among the finds was a small metal plaque engraved with the Ten Commandments and a prominent donor plaque bearing the name Gitel Klachek, linking the remains to known prewar local families.
  • The sixth season of fieldwork continues as a joint effort led by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Kultūros paveldo išsaugojimo pajėgos with funding from the Good Will Foundation and cooperation from the Lithuanian Jewish (Litvak) Community.
  • The project aims to conserve the exposed fabric, document the site’s social history and develop the area for community use and public access, a step that could reshape local heritage education and memory of Vilnius’s prewar Jewish life.