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Obj. ID: 8845
Jewish Architecture
  Synagogue in Čekiškė, Lithuania

© “Synagogues in Lithuania: A Catalogue” Archives, Photographer: Červiakov, Vitalij, 2006

The synagogue is an unplastered, red brick structure. It has two main volumes, and is covered with a gable roof of asbestos sheets laid on top of old shingles.

The synagogue has a rectangular footprint. It consists of a spacious prayer hall on the eastern side and a two-story western volume, the ground floor of which houses a vestibule and one small room, and the upper floor was the women’s section. The main entrance to the synagogue is situated on the southern façade. An outer wooden staircase leading to the women’s section was most likely attached to the western façade. Foundations of some later annexes can be traced 9 m westwards from the today’s western wall.  

The synagogue’s exterior has been mostly preserved. 

The interior is divided by brick walls into the eastern prayer hall and two western rooms, above which the women’s section was situated. The northwestern room apparently served as a small prayer and study room, since there is a niche with a protruding wooden frame in its eastern wall that looks like a small Torah ark.

The prayer hall was originally spanned by a wooden barrel vault, the shape of which can be seen in outline of the attic.

Today (2006), the prayer hall and the women’s gallery are spanned with a common wooden joisted ceiling. The hall used to be lit by twelve windows: four on each of the southern, northern, and eastern walls. All of them are currently blocked with planks.

The floor of the prayer hall was lower than that of the vestibule. The marks of four steps can still be seen beneath the higher post-WWII floor.

The pride of the builiding, the Neo-Baroque Torah ark remains preserved and located at the central pier of the eastern wall.

After WWII, the synagogue was abandoned for a long time. In 2006, local people still recalled the bright and richly colored interior, which had been visible before the building was converted into a kolkhoz granary. Apparently, it was at that time that the wooden gallery on the western side was pulled down. When it was visited in 2006, the building was not in use. On January 5, 2010, the former synagogue was listed as regional monument of cultural heritage.

Summary and Remarks
Remarks

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Name/Title
Synagogue in Čekiškė | Unknown
Object Detail
Monument Setting
Unknown
Date
1887-1900?
Active dates
Reconstruction dates
2023
Artist/ Maker
Unknown
Historical Origin
Unknown
Community type
Congregation
Unknown
Location
Lithuania | Kaunas County | Čekiškė
| 16 Ateities 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
Brick
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

Stucco sculptured and painted Neo-Baroque Torah ark.

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
East
Coin
Coin Series
Coin Ruler
Coin Year
Denomination
Signature
Colophon
Scribal Notes
Watermark
Hallmark
Group
Group
Group
Group
Group
Trade Mark
Binding
Decoration Program

The frieze of the Torah ark bears depictions of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. They are grouped according to their mothers (the children of Leah on the right, southern side, the children of Bilhah, Zilpah, and Rachel on the left, northern side) and placed in order of seniority. The tribe of Joseph is represented by his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and Reuben is represented twice, thus expanding the number of images to fourteen. The depictions on the southern part of the frieze include, from right to left: a stream for Reuben (Gen. 49:4), a sword with the town gate of Shechem for Simeon (Gen. 34:25, 49:5-6), a mandrake for Reuben again (Gen. 30:14-17), a harp for Levi (I Chron. 15:16; II Chron. 5:12), a lion for Judah (Gen. 49:9), a donkey for Issachar (Gen. 49:14), and a ship for Zebulun (Gen. 43:13). On the northern part there are, from right to left (Fig. 18): a serpent for Dan (Gen. 49:17), a deer (hind) for Naphtali (Gen. 49:21), a banner for Gad (symbolizing troops or a camp, Gen. 49:19), an olive branch (badly preserved) for Asher (Deut. 33:24), a flower for Ephraim (Is. 28:1), a bull for Manasseh (Deut. 33:17), and a wolf for Benjamin (Gen. 49:27). 

Suggested Reconsdivuction
History/Provenance
Main Surveys & Excavations
2006
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)

"Lithuana: Restoration of walls, roof, facades of synagogue in Čekiškė is being completed," Jewish Heritage Europe, July 4, 2023, https://jewish-heritage-europe.eu/2023/07/04/lithuana-cekiske/ (accessed July 5, 2023)
Type
Documenter
|
Author of description
|
Architectural Drawings
|
Computer Reconstruction
|
Section Head
|
Language Editor
Carmen Echevarria | 2016
Donor
|
Negative/Photo. No.
The following information on this monument will be completed:
Unknown |