Decades after one of Eastern Europe’s most important synagogues was destroyed under Nazi and Soviet rule, archaeologists have uncovered the central dais, or bimah, of the Great Synagogue of Vilnius, Lithuania.

Excavators were able to access the site for the first time after a Soviet-era building that stood over it was destroyed about eight months ago, excavation co-director Jon Seligman of the Israel Antiquities Authority told The Times of Israel. The synagogue, which served as the center of the city’s 60,000-strong Jewish community before the Holocaust, was ransacked by the Nazis in 1941 and then destroyed under the Soviet regime in 1957, he said.

“This was the most important synagogue of Lithuanian Jewry for several centuries,” said Seligman. “It’s what represented them as a people and formed a part of their identity. At a time when Jews comprised 40 percent of the city, this was their cathedral.”

The bimah, a raised platform from which the Torah was read, was uncovered during the past month in excavations that also uncovered sections of the main prayer hall, parts of the women’s gallery, colorful terrazzo floors, seating plaques bearing the names of worshipers, and a plaque engraved with the Ten Commandments.

The findings are the most significant since excavations on the city’s central Jewish compound, the Shulhoyf, began in 2011. The current excavation is the sixth at the site, which until now has focused on the courtyard and playground areas around the building.

“My family came from towns around the Vilnius region, so this project has been a homecoming for me in a lot of senses,” Seligman said.

The excavation is being led by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Lithuanian cultural heritage organization Kultūros Paveldo Išsaugojimo Pajėgos (KPIP), with funding from the Good Will Foundation and in cooperation with the Lithuanian Jewish Community.

Reconstructing history

Jews first settled in Lithuania when they were invited by the Grand Duke in the 14th century, and they built a large wooden synagogue in Vilna, as the city was then known, that was destroyed in a riot at the end of the 16th century, Seligman said. Following that tragedy, the community received permission to build a large brick synagogue in........

© The Times of Israel