Obj. ID: 45490
Jewish Funerary Art Monument at the Site of the Old Jewish Cemetery in Vilnius, Lithuania, 1993
To the main object: Site of the Old (Šnipiškės) Jewish Cemetery in Vilnius, Lithuania
What is Commemorated?
The Old Jewish Cemetery in Vilnius, destroyed in 1950.
Description:
The monument is situated at the site of the Old Jewish Cemetery of Vilnius, which was demolished between 1948 and 1955. It is located near Olimpiečių Street, which is an embankment of the Neris River.
The monument takes the form of a red granite block with an almost square footprint mounted on a base of four gray granite steps. It is topped by a wider red granite capstone with an arched central section, which evokes the arched form of the Vilna Gaon’s ohel as seen in photographs taken in the 1930s.
The main inscription, in Yiddish and Lithuanian, is located on the western side of the monument, while an additional inscription in Yiddish appears on its southern side and an almost identical one in Lithuanian is on the northern side.
Inscription:
On the western facade, in Yiddish:
צום אנדענק פון אלטן
שניפישקער בית עולם
די ערשטע קברים אין יאר 1487
פארניכטעט דורך די סאוועטן אין 1950
On the western facade, in Lithuanian:
Senosioms Šnipiškių žydų kapinėms
atminti
pradėta laidoti 1487 m
Sovietų sunaikintos 1950 m
Translation: In memory of the old Šnipiškis Jewish cemetery. Burials began in 1487. Destroyed by the Soviets in 1950.
On the northern side, in Lithuanian:
Čia buvo palaidoti
žymūs žydų veikėjai
tarp jų:
Vilniaus Gaonas -
Elijahu Kremeris
Ger-Cedekas -
grafas Valentinas Potockis
Translation: Here were buried / prominent Jewish figures, / among them: / The Vilna Gaon – Eliyahu Kremer / Ger Tzedek – Count Valentin Potocki
On the southern side, in Yiddish:
דא זיינען געווען באערדיקט
גדולי ישראל
צווישן זיי:
דער ווילנער גאון -
אליהו בר שלמה קרעמער
דער גר צדק -
גראף וואלענטין פאָטאָצקי
Translation: Here were buried / Greats of Israel / among them: / The Vilna Gaon – Eliyahu son of r. Shlomo Kremer / Ger Tzedek – Count Valentin Potocki
Commissioned by
Funded by the Vilnius municipality (Guzenberg 2021, 683).
sub-set tree:
Second step of the base: 181 x 180 x 34 cm
Third step of the base: 153 x 150 x 32 cm
Fourth step of the base: 121 x 120 x 35 cm
Main body: 115 x 89 x 82 cm
Upper part: 105 x 104 x 41 cm (at the edges) and 56 cm (at the center)
The Old Jewish Cemetery of Vilnius was demolished by city authorities between 1948 and 1955. Several graves, including that of the Vilna Gaon and the Ger Tzedek, were transferred to the contemporary cemetery in Šeškinė. The territory of the cemetery was replaced by sports facilities: an indoor swimming pool in 1956, an open-air swimming pool, and finally, a grandiose Palace of Concerts and Sports in 1971.
The monument was unveiled on September 23, 1993, on the 50th anniversary of the liquidation of the Vilnius Ghetto.
Agranovskii, Genrikh and Irina Guzenberg. Vilnius: Po sledam Litovskogo Ierusalima. Pamiatnye mesta ereiskoi istorii i kul’tury, 2nd ed. (Vilnius: The Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum, 2016)., 667.
Guzenberg, Irina, Vilnius: Traces of the Jewish Jerusalem of Lithuania. Memorable Sites of Jewish History and Culture. A Guidebook (Vilnius: Pavilniai, 2021)., 683.
Guzenberg, Irina. Vilnius: Pamiatnye mesta evreiskoi istorii i kul'tury (Vilnius: Pavilniai, 2013)., 65.