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Obj. ID: 9286
Jewish Architecture
  Great Beit Midrash at 5 Petro Avižonio St. in New Žagarė, Lithuania

© “Synagogues in Lithuania: A Catalogue” Archives, Photographer: Červiakov, Vitalij, 2007

The preserved building is the former Great Beit Midrash partly captured in the photograph from the 1920s. The picture shows a quite large masonry plastered building covered with a gable roof. The prayer hall has round-headed windows, the eastern gable is adorned with seven round-headed windows, a wider central window is flanked by the narrow ones and twin windows are placed in the corners; the gable is topped with three turrets. In 2007 the former Great Beit Midrash survived as brick plastered structure, with an outer staircase, covered with a gable roof of asbestos sheets. The ground plan is an extended rectangular, with a chamfered northwestern corner, where the stairs to the first floor begin. The two-storey part in the west is separated by a transverse wall from a spacious, almost square prayer hall lit with twelve round-headed windows. Pilasters emphasize the corners of the building and divide the eastern and southern façades into bays; on the northern façade they mark the division between the prayer hall and the western part of the building. The walls are crowned with a molded cornice. In the past, the eastern and western gables were pierced by coupled round-headed windows; on the exterior, the silhouettes of the bricked-up windows can be seen in the plaster, while openings with wooden frames have survived in the attic space. The western façade facing Petro Avižonio Street is modest. It is two-storey, asymmetrical, with an open brick staircase built during the Soviet period. The middle part of the façade contains the doorways of the ground and the upper floors; above the latter, marks of a triangular marquee can be seen. Small windows pierce the wall on both sides of the doorway of the upper floor; their segmental heads are intersected by a wide even stringcourse. The ground floor doorway is situated below ground level and is accessed by four steps. There is a rectangular window to the left of the door, its matching pair on the right side is bricked up. In the two-storey part of the southern façade the original round-headed windows of the upper floor have survived; the rectangular windows of the ground floor were expanded in the Soviet period. The western corner of the northern façade is chamfered. The lower part of this span contains two rectangular windows, and a former round-headed window on the upper floor is bricked up. In the two-storey part of the northern façade, two round-headed and one rectangular window are arranged in two tiers.

Interiors of the Great Beit Midrash were destroyed when the building was transformed into a school. In the two-storey part, a coved ceiling has survived in the former women’s section on the upper floor. The prayer hall has been converted into a gym.

Text from Aliza Cohen-Mushlin, Sergey Kravtsov, Vladimir Levin, Giedrė Mickūnaitė and Jurgita Šiaučiūnaitė-Verbickienė (eds.), Synagogues in Lithuania: A Catalogue. vol. 2 (Vilnius: Vilnius Academy of Art Press, 2012).

Summary and Remarks
Remarks

165 image(s)

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Name/Title
Great Beit Midrash at 5 Petro Avižonio St. in New Žagarė | Unknown
Object Detail
Monument Setting
Unknown
Date
1800-1900?
Synagogue active dates
Reconstruction dates
After 1945
Artist/ Maker
Unknown
Historical Origin
Unknown
Community type
Congregation
Unknown
Location
Lithuania | Šiauliai County | Žagarė
| 5 Petro Avižonio St.
Site
Unknown
School/Style
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
Sport facility
Present Usage Details
Condition of Building Fabric
B (Fair)
Architectural Significance type
Historical significance: Event/Period
Historical significance: Collective Memory/Folklore
Historical significance: Person
Architectural Significance: Style
Architectural Significance: Artistic Decoration
Urban significance
Part of shulhoyf
Significance Rating
2 (Regional)
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
2007
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)
Pinkas hakehilot: Lita, ed. Dov Levin (Jerusalem, 1996), p. 280; Rossiiskaia evreiskaia entsiklopediia (Moscow), vol. 4 - 2000, p. 436; Hamelits, no. 17 (25-01[06-02]-1862), p. 270; Hamelits, no. 35 (08[20]-09-1881), p. 748; Aleksandr Belozorchik, “Mestechko Zhagory” [Townlet Zhagory], in Pamiatnaia knizhka Kovenskoi gubernii na 1899 god [Kovno province reference book for 1899] (Kovna, 1898), p. 40;
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 |