Img. ID: 79419
In spite of its use for industrial purposes, the interior retained its layout, and even some elements of the prayer hall have survived: four slender cast iron columns, which emphasized the position of the bimah, are standing at a distance of about two meters from each other in the center of the hall, shifted slightly to the west. They bear two metal beams in east-west direction, supporting a joisted ceiling. The eastern wall retains a shade of the destroyed Torah ark and several fragments of murals. The discernable remains allow a reconstruction of the prayer hall’s decoration. The walls were colored blue. Brown pilasters were painted in the piers, with a gray frieze between their capitals adorned with scrolls. A blue field with depiction of a rose and foliage decorated the frieze between the capitals. The tops of the windows’ pointed heads were surmounted by a rocaille painted in grisaille.
Currently (2007) the western wall of the prayer hall has one original doorway in the lower tier and another one on the southern side is bricked up (Fig. 13). Two small blocked niches with segment-headed arches are visible between them, while the central doorway seems to be new. Twelve segment-headed arched openings in groups of four, which connected the hall with the first floor women’s section, are currently blocked. Painted pilasters are still discernible in the piers between the groups of arches. Two openings were cut through the arches and an iron balcony with staircase attached to the wall, presumably in order to access an intermediary floor, which was installed during the Soviet period and later removed. The women’s section consisted of three separate rooms. Fragments of original blue with red stencil painting have survived there. They comprise frames, geometrical and floral ornaments and small Stars of David.
(Citation from Aliza Cohen-Mushlin, Sergey Kravtsov, Vladimir Levin, Giedrė Mickūnaitė and Jurgita Šiaučiūnaitė-Verbickienė (eds.), Synagogues in Lithuania: A Catalogue. Vilnius: Vilnius Academy of Art Press, 2010. Vol. 1, pp. 87-95).