Dr. Jon Seligman of the Israel Antiquities Authority on the colorful floor of the main prayer hall of the Great Synagogue of Vilna. Photograph Israel Antiquities Authority
Archaeological excavations at the site of the Great Synagogue of Vilna have unearthed the floor of the main prayer hall, offering a poignant testament to the synagogue’s destruction at the hands of the Nazis and Soviet authorities.
The excavations currently underway in Lithuania are led by the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Society of Lithuanian Archaeology and others. They have unearthed two substantial concrete basins beneath the bathhouse and mikveh (Jewish ritual bath). These basins were essential for supplying the Vilna community with water that met the strict purity requirements of Jewish law (halakha).
As part of the fifth season of excavations, new sections of the floor of the Great Synagogue were uncovered for the first time, showing them to be decorated with red, black and white flowers. Also discovered were part of the women’s section of the synagogue (Ezrat Nashim) and huge water reservoirs that were used to feed halachically pure water to the mikva’ot used by the community. The excavation also exposed one of the iconic giant pillars that surrounded the Bimah (prayer platform) of the synagogue, now collapsed on its side – testimony to the intensity of the deliberate destruction the site after 300 years of continuous activity.
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It also turned out that the walls of the synagogue were decorated, the excavation showing the remains of a section of wall, painted with blue and red motifs.
The large and magnificent synagogue of Vilna, built in the 17th century in the Renaissance-Baroque style, was the oldest and most significant building of Lithuanian Jewry, until it was destroyed during and after the Holocaust. In its heyday, the synagogue was surrounded by a complex of other synagogues, mikvahs and community institutions that formed a large center of Torah study and community life – the beating heart of the Lithuanian Jewry, which included 12 synagogues and study houses, the community council building, the home of Rabbi Eliyahu – the Vilna Gaon, Kosher meat stalls, the famous ‘Strashun’ library, a bathhouse and more.
The place, sacred to the Jews of Lithuania, was looted and burned by the Nazi Germans, and later its remains were completely destroyed by the Soviet authorities, and a modern school was built there.
During the 2015 season of work, the results of a ground-penetrating radar survey showed significant remains of the synagogue below the surface, and since then, there have been 5 excavation seasons at the site, revealing the complex’s rich past.
According to the Excavation Directors, Dr. Jon Seligman from the Israel Antiquities Authority and Justinas Rakas from the Lithuanian Archeological Society, “The magnificent remains we are discovering – the synagogue Bimah that was uncovered during the previous excavation seasons – as well as the colorful decorations of the floor and walls – bring back moments in the life of a lost vibrant community. The architectural wealth and vitality we encounter – alongside the destruction of impressive giant columns that collapsed during the destruction of the synagogue by the Nazis and the Soviets, tell the tragic story of a community that lived here, that is no more.”
