The dig at the famous site, destroyed by the Nazis, has taken on new importance this year in the aftermath of Hamas's Oct. 7 massacre, said Israel Antiquities Authority Director Eli Escusido.
Excavations of the Great Synagogue of Vilna, Lithuania, destroyed by the Nazis during the Holocaust, have revealed the floor of the main prayer hall, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Thursday. The uncovered sections are decorated with red, black and white flowers.
The unusual dig, which first began last decade, has also uncovered two huge concrete basins under the synagogue’s bathhouse and a Jewish ritual bath, or mikvah, according to the IAA.
The august synagogue, built between 1630-1633, was in continuous use for 300 years until World War II. Constructed in the Renaissance-Baroque style, the large and magnificent synagogue was the oldest and most significant building for Lithuanian Jewry.
During its heyday, the synagogue was surrounded by a complex of other synagogues, ritual baths and community institutions that formed a large center of Torah study and community life—the beating heart of Lithuanian Jewry. Among the buildings in the complex were the community council building, the home of Rabbi Eliyah, aka the Vilna Gaon, the famous “Strashun” library and a bathhouse, according to the IAA.
The synagogue was looted and burned by the Nazis, and its remains were completely destroyed by the Soviet authorities in the 1950s, who built a school on the site.
Video/Image - Israel Antiquities Authority