E. Ožeškienės St. 13, 44254 Kaunas, Lithuania
Jews in the territory of Kaunas have been mentioned as early as the 15th century. Initially, Jews were forbidden to settle in Kaunas, so they began to concentrate in the suburb of Kaunas, Vilijampolė, founded by the Radziwiłł family back in the 17th century. In Kaunas, numerous restrictions applied to people of Jewish nationality for many years, but in 1858 these were lifted. A decree was issued allowing Jews to build houses in all parts of the city. By 1896, more than half of Kaunas's population were Jews.
The earliest known Kaunas synagogues stood on the territory adjacent to Kaunas Castle. In 1716 they were destroyed but were restored in 1722. In the 18th century, in the Vilijampolė district, a new large brick synagogue in the Baroque style was built by Moisey and Avraham Soloveichik, sons of Rabbi Isaac. It was restored in 1774, but during a fire in Vilijampolė, after the roof burned down, the Tsarist authorities did not allow it to be rebuilt.
The Kaunas Choral Synagogue (Lith. Kauno choralinė sinagoga) is one of two functioning choral synagogues in Lithuania, located in the center of Kaunas. The synagogue is called choral because the rituals performed there are accompanied by choral singing.
The new synagogue in the center of Kaunas was built in 1872 by Levyn Minkovsky, a merchant of the first Kaunas guild, with architect Ustin Golinevich. The building externally resembles a church in the Neo-Baroque style with a dome and a Baroque-style pediment with curved volutes. This is a type of reform synagogue, distinguished not only by elements of Christian sacred buildings but also by a more richly decorated exterior. This style became widespread in large cities at the end of the 19th century.
The special archive of Lithuania preserves the project of the Kaunas Choral Synagogue and other documents that today allow a better view of the original appearance of this synagogue and its urban environment.
The exterior of reform synagogues was more lavish than traditional ones. Such decoration brought synagogues closer to European buildings. The Kaunas synagogue has preserved its historical architecture; it is rectangular, with a three-walled projection of the "holy ark" on the eastern side and three entrances on the western side.
The main facade of the building is divided by pilasters that start from the pedestal, and lower pilasters on which archivolts with keystones rest, surrounding the arched windows of the second floor. The openings on the first floor are rectangular; there are three wooden double-leaf doors decorated with relief carving. Paired arched windows on the second floor are set into wide niches. The windows of both floors are separated by inter-floor planes with rectangular recesses. The facade is crowned by a high pediment of stylized forms with side volutes and a dome with the Star of David rising above the cornice; the central plane of the pediment is divided and visually elevated by a niche in which a relief Star of David is embedded. The windows on the side of the southeast facade, as on the main facade, are located on two floors and rest on sills enlivened by recesses. The central part of the hall is emphasized by a protruding glazed skylight with stylized semicircular pediments at the ends. The rear northeast facade with a somewhat lower pointed annex in the middle is crowned by a stylized pediment with a semicircular top.
Light enters the Bimah (the place of Torah reading) through windows in the roof. The interior is decorated with plant and animal ornaments characteristic of Jewish art. A fence with gates built in 1893 adjoins the synagogue building. The synagogue suffered greatly during World War II; its dome was restored only a few years ago.
Today, the synagogue operates regularly and is one of the city's architectural monuments. At the back of the synagogue stands a monument to 50,000 Jewish children who died in Lithuania during the Holocaust. The monument consists of thirty-seven stone slabs with the names of cities where the children perished, created by sculptor Robertas Antinis.
On April 20, 2011, posters with the inscriptions "Juden raus," "Hitleris buvo teisus" (Hitler was right) were hung at the entrance to the synagogue. The police launched an investigation into this anti-Semitic incident.
Sources:
https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kauno_choralin%C4%97_sinagoga
https://www.bernardinai.lt/daugiakultures-praeities-liudininkes-kauno-choraline-sinagoga/
