Excavations reveal decorated floor of Vilna’s Great Synagogue

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.

Over the last decade there have been five excavations carried out at the site in the wake of a ground-penetrating radar survey showing significant remains below the surface, revealing the complex’s rich past.

“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,” said excavation co-directors Jon Seligman of the IAA and Justinas Rakas of the Lithuanian Archeological Society. “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.”

IAA Director Eli Escusido said that the excavations of the site have taken on added significance this year in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.

“In the face of rising anti-Semitism and attempts to deceive and deny, there is one undeniable truth, both simple and tragic, which tells us about an entire magnificent community that was destroyed due to hatred of Jews—Never Again,” he said.