The U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad has taken on as a project the restoration of the women’s gallery in the wooden synagogue in Žiežmariai, Lithuania and pledged to raise $75,000 toward the work. The synagogue underwent a large-scale restoration process in 2016-2021, but the upper women’s gallery was left unfinished.
Commission chair Star Jones and Lithuanian Jewish Community chair Faina Kukliansky signed an agreement on the project earlier this month during a visit by Jones to Vilnius and elsewhere in Lithuania. President Joe Biden appointed Jones Commission chair last year.
“This is an extraordinarily important project for the preservation of Litvak culture. The Žiežmariai synagogue is a unique example of wooden architecture. There are only a handful of wooden synagogues still standing in Europe as a whole,” Kukliansky said in a statement.
The Commission is an agency of the U.S. Government whose aim is to “identify and report on cemeteries, monuments, and historic buildings in Eastern and Central Europe that are associated with the heritage of U.S. citizens, particularly endangered properties, and obtain, in cooperation with the Department of State, assurances from the governments of the region that the properties will be protected and preserved.”
It also “encourages, sponsors, assists, and otherwise facilitates private and foreign government site restoration, preservation, and memorialization projects” with aid
sometimes provided through Commission sponsorship or co-sponsorship of the projects. In some cases, technical assistance is provided, funds are raised, and the Commission receives contributions on a tax-deductible basis and transfers the monies to local contractors.
The Žiežmariai synagogue probably dates from the latter half of the 19th century — and then was rebuilt in 1920 after a fire. It includes a prayer hall with 18 windows (one of them combined with a door). (See a detailed description of the building in an earlier post on our web site.)
According to the Commission’s web site,
During the Holocaust Jews were locked in the synagogue before being shot in late August, 1941. It was then used as a storehouse for looted Jewish property. There were almost no Jews left after the war and the synagogue continued to be used as a warehouse. After Lithuanian independence from the Soviet Union, the ruined building was returned to the Lithuanian Jewish Community.
Before renovation started in 2016, the synagogue, located off the highway between Vilnius and Kaunas, was in extremely dilapidated condition.
See the U.S. Commission’s Project Page for the women’s gallery restoration
Find some of our earlier posts about the synagogue and its restoration