A Jewish Cultural Route Association has been established in Lithuania, with the aim of developing an officially sponsored program of Jewish cultural tourism in the country, including an itinerary of major sites of Jewish heritage.
The Association was established December 15, at a meeting at the Lithuanian Ministry of the Economy convened at the initiative of the Cultural Heritage Department of the Ministry of Culture.
At the meeting, Cultural Heritage Department director Diana Varnaitė presented the concept, and State Tourism Department director Jurgita Kazlauskienė presented a report discussing the role a Lithuanian Jewish cultural tourism program could play as a competitive tourism product.
“We have rich resources in Jewish cultural heritage: synagogues, religious schools; cities and towns along with surviving historical shtetls; old Jewish cemeteries,” Varnaitė said, according to a report of the meeting posted on the web sites of the Jewish community, the State Tourism Department and the Cultural Heritage Department of the Culture Ministry. “An extraordinary phenomenon characteristic of our region exclusively is wooden synagogues,” she added.
She also noted spiritual legacy of Lithuanian Jews and their many contributions to history, culture, science, education and the economy.
(This post is drawn from the report on the official web sites).
The initiative to form a Jewish Cultural Route Association was spearheaded by the municipalities of Ukmergė and Kėdainiai, the regional administration of the Joniškis district, the Centre for Studies of the Culture and History of East European Jews, and the Association of Lithuanian Museums. Other municipalities and partners are expected to join, including tourist information centers, museums, schools and other institutions.
At the meeting, Lithuanian Jewish Community chair Faina Kukliansky thanked the various institutions involved. “I would like to thank you for the efforts made to preserve our cultural heritage and to present it to the world,” she said. “Synagogues and Jewish cemeteries are today being renovated and put in order. There is still some suspicion in talk about us, characterizing relations with Jews as ‘us and them,’ but I would disagree with that sort of attitude.” she added.
One of the goals of the new Association is to become a more active part of the European Routes of Jewish Heritage, an initiative launched more than a decade ago by the AEPJ, Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Culture and under the auspices of the Council of Europe.
The AEPJ already posts a link to “Let’s explore Jewish History and Heritage in Lithuania” a downloadable PDF of a Jewish itinerary and guide to 10 keyJewish heritage sites in Lithuania, which was published by the private Institute for Tourism Development, and financed by the Jewish community’s Good Will Foundation.
Over the years Lithuania has been involved in various Jewish tourism and cultural heritage initiatives linked to the European Jewish Routes project and the annual European Day of Jewish Culture. These include the publication by the Cultural Heritage Department of the 2006 book “Jewish Cultural Heritage in Lithuania.”
Report on the meeting in English, on Jewish community web site Downloadable
PDF guide: “Let’s Explore Jewish History and Heritage in Lithuania”
4 comments on “Lithuania: Jewish Cultural Route Association established”
While I completely agree with the criticism of some of the motives of the Lithuanian Tourism Department. It looks like they have seen the success that Poland has had encouraging Jewish tourism. Now they would like to get a piece of the the lucrative Western tourist money.
However, I have another general concern. It is great that a lot of iconic synagogues have and are being restored as well as many cemeteries. My question is how are any of the secular sites being restored? From the restorations that I have seen on this site one would think that all Jews in Eastern Europe orthodox or religious which was not true.
One has to commend the Lithuanian government for restoring Jewish cultural sites, instead of wiping out all traces of a rich heritage that once thrived there. But have I concur with Joan’s & Sarah’s comments – first the Lithuanian government cashes in on confiscated Jewish assets after decimating entire communities, now wants to cash in on creating cultural centres out of once Jewish sites on a tourist trail. Unfortunately that’s how politics has always worked and yes, it sucks – nothing happens unless there’s a what’s in it for me! After all there are similar tourist trails all over the world for the same reason.
I like the concept of the project. We may not know the motivation for some of the participants but we do know that the project is happening, that it can rebuild some of the vast heritage that was partially destroyed.
seem to have missed any apology for the fact that the Litvaks were in many many cases murdered by their neighbours not German Nazi stormtroopers. No compensation either.It seems to me that this joining is a cynical attempt to obtain Western tourist funds. I know some cemetery monuments have been put up but they have often been funded from overseas not by the Lithuanian Government. I really feel that I would not be happy giving funds to a government whose predecessors helped to shoot my family!