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Obj. ID: 131
Jewish Architecture
  Wooden synagogue in Tirkšliai - photos of 1993

© Center for Jewish Art, Photographer: Khaimovich, Boris, 1993

The wooden synagogue, probably built in the late 19th century, stands in the center of the town at one of its main streets. The synagogue is a rectangular log structure on a masonry foundation, elongated on an east-west axis, 13.19 m long, 11.95 m wide and about 9.50 m high above the foundation. The log walls are reinforced with vertical posts and sided with vertical planks. There were two entrances, on the northern and western façades, however it is not clear which was the main one. The exterior clearly shows the interior division of space into a lofty prayer hall and a two-storey western part with a vestibule and first-floor women’s section. The interior partitions have not survived, and today the interior is a single space. The interior was lathed and plastered. Today, the plaster is largely lost; where it survives, traces of blue painted frieze can be seen. The prayer hall was a “broad house,” ca. 9 m long and 11.5 m wide. It seems that its floor was ca. 0.5 m higher than that of the western rooms. The Torah ark stood in the middle of the eastern wall, and the bimah occupied the center of the hall. The hall was spanned with a flat ceiling, tied to the roof trusses. It was lit by ten rectangular windows: two pairs of windows in the eastern wall, and three windows each in the southern and northern walls. The exterior wooden framings and seals of these windows are elaborately molded. The windows of the western part of the synagogue are rectangular, set in two tiers, matching the entrance floor and the women’s gallery. Most of the windows are currently planked up. The synagogue is topped with a gabled roof, covered with asbestos sheets over old shingles. The western gable is pierced with two rectangular windows in a lower tier and a small semicircular window above them. The eastern gable is pierced with two rectangular windows in its lower part.

In autumn 1941 the synagogue together with all its movables, including a comparatively large number of books, was locked and sealed, and its keys were kept with the town’s authorities.

After WW II the former synagogue served as storage space, and a wooden annex was added to its western façade. Since the 1990s the building has been abandoned and the annex vanished in the 2000s.

Summary and Remarks
Remarks

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Name/Title
Wooden synagogue in Tirkšliai | Unknown
Object Detail
Monument Setting
Unknown
Date
188?-189?
Active dates
Reconstruction dates
Artist/ Maker
Unknown
Historical Origin
Unknown
Community type
Congregation
Unknown
Location
Lithuania | Telšiai County | Tirkšliai
| 15a Juliaus Janonio St.
Site
Unknown
Period
Unknown
Period Detail
Collection
Unknown |
Documentation / Research project
Unknown
Iconographical Subject
Unknown |
Textual Content
Unknown |
Languages of inscription
Unknown
Shape / Form
Unknown
Material / Technique
Material Stucture
Material Decoration
Material Bonding
Material Inscription
Material Additions
Material Cloth
Material Lining
Tesserae Arrangement
Density
Colors
Construction material
Timber
Measurements
Height
Length
Width
Depth
Circumference
Thickness
Diameter
Weight
Axis
Panel Measurements
Condition
Extant
Documented by CJA
Surveyed by CJA
Present Usage
Abandoned
Present Usage Details
Condition of Building Fabric
C (Poor)
Architectural Significance type
Historical significance: Event/Period
Historical significance: Collective Memory/Folklore
Historical significance: Person
Architectural Significance: Style
Architectural Significance: Artistic Decoration
Urban significance
Significance Rating
3 (National)
0
Ornamentation
Custom
Contents
Codicology
Scribes
Script
Number of Lines
Ruling
Pricking
Quires
Catchwords
Hebrew Numeration
Blank Leaves
Direction/Location
Façade (main)
Endivances
Location of Torah Ark
Location of Apse
Location of Niche
Location of Reader's Desk
Location of Platform
Temp: Architecture Axis
Arrangement of Seats
Location of Women's Section
Direction Prayer
Direction Toward Jerusalem
Coin
Coin Series
Coin Ruler
Coin Year
Denomination
Signature
Colophon
Scribal Notes
Watermark
Hallmark
Group
Group
Group
Group
Group
Trade Mark
Binding
Decoration Program
Suggested Reconsdivuction
History/Provenance
Main Surveys & Excavations
1996, 2005
Sources

Cohen-Mushlin, Aliza, Sergey Kravtsov, Vladimir Levin, Giedrė Mickūnaitė, Jurgita Šiaučiūnaitė-Verbickienė (eds.), Synagogues in Lithuania. A Catalogue, 2 vols. (Vilnius: VIlnius Academy of Art Press, 2010-12)
Type
Documenter
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Author of description
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Architectural Drawings
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Computer Reconstruction
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Section Head
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Language Editor
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Donor
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Negative/Photo. No.
The following information on this monument will be completed:
Unknown |