Great Synagogue of Vilna

The Great Synagogue, officially, the Great City Synagogue in Vilna, also the Great Synagogue of Vilnius, is a former Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue which once stood at the end of Jewish Street (I-2) in the Old Town of Vilnius in Lithuania. Designed in the Renaissance and Baroque styles, the stone building was completed in 1633 and operated as a synagogue until it was devastated by Nazis in 1941. In 1945, the former synagogue was still standing, although roofless. In 1946 the short living Jewish Museum of Vilnius tried to list the synagogue as a historic monument and thus to preserve it, but without success. In 1947 the synagogue was blasted and its ruins were demolished by 1957 and replaced by a kindergarten and a primary school. The synagogue was located on the spot of an existing synagogue built in 1572, the site had first been used to house a Jewish house of prayer in 1440.

Synagogue data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).