Restoration work on the 19th century red brick synagogue in Čekiškė will continue thanks to a cooperation agreement signed this month between the Kaunas District Municipality Mayor Valerijus Makūnas and Mauša Bairakas, chair of the Kaunas Jewish Religious Community.
Restoration of the exterior facades, roof, and walls of the long-disused building, which we posted about in 2023, have been completed.
That work was carried out on order of the state Cultural Infrastructure Center (KIC), in cooperation with the Jewish community in Kaunas and funded by the Culture Ministry’s Heritage Management Program, with contributions from the Kaunas District Municipality.
© “Synagogues in Lithuania: A Catalogue” Archives, Photographer: Červiakov, Vitalij, 2006
Plans this year are to clean the building’s floors and interior, including the area around the site of the bimah, and the elaborate neon-baroque Ark, decorated with columns and paintings, a statement from the Kaunas Region announcing the July 11 agreement said.
Bairakas said the building will become a new cultural center, where educational events, exhibitions, concerts, and tourists will be able to take place, according to the statement.
As part of the signing ceremony, a mezuzah was nailed to the door of the building.
Jews settled in Čekiškė in the 17th century and before World War I made up 60 percent of the population. The red brick synagogue is believed to have been built at the end of the 19th century. Left abandoned after the Holocaust, it was used for grain storage in the Soviet period. It was listed as a regional monument of cultural heritage in 2010.
The synagogue’s Ark is unique in Lithuania today. the The brick and plaster structure is richly decorated with columns and pilasters, as well as paintings of plants, animals, birds, musical instruments, and representions of the 12 Tribes of Israel.
Watch a video of Bairakas showing the interior of the synagogue: