Obj. ID: 130
Jewish Funerary Art Jewish cemetery in Telšiai (Telz), Lithuania
According to ESJF European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative, the exact date of the Jewish cemetery establishment in Telšiai is unknown, but it is likely that the territory for the cemetery was granted to Jewish Community together with the permission to settle in the 17th century.
Today the cemetery has lost its original appearance: of the initial 2.17 hectares only 0,43 hectares remain, due to the largest part of the cemetery being destroyed in 1987. In its place stands a park with some buildings nearby. In 1995 the remaining fragment of the cemetery was included into the Lithuanian Cultural Heritage List and fenced.
In 2018 Lithuanian Council of Culture initiated a project, during which participants attempted to find, clean and translate about 200 monuments or their parts. The informational stand near the entrance to the cemetery was placed. The same team prepared a booklet with pictures of the gravestones and epitaphs on them, translated from Hebrew to English and Lithuanian languages. Most, especially the old ones, did not record anything more than the first name and that of a parent. However, one can still find here a grave of Rabbi Yosef Leib Bloch, the head of the famous Telz Yeshiva.
There is a metal mesh fence, about 1.5 meters in height, which is damaged in many places. There are about 130 gravestones. Some gravestones are either broken off or have been moved and gathered in one place, there is no information about them on the information table at the cemetery's entrance.
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