Photo: Jon Seligman, Israel Antiquities Authority

By James Rogers - July 23, 2019

Archaeologists have uncovered 200-year-old Hebrew inscriptions at the site of the Great Synagogue of Vilna (Vilnius) in Lithuania for the first time since its destruction during the Holocaust.

Constructed in the 17th century, the impressive Renaissance-Baroque-style Great Synagogue was razed during the Nazi occupation of Lithuania.

Lithuanian and Israeli researchers have found an inscription, dated to 1796, that was part of a stone Torah reading table in the synagogue. The table was used to read the Torah to the synagogue’s congregation until the building’s burning and final destruction by the Soviets 70 years ago.

Hebrew inscriptions exposed for the first time since historic synagogue was destroyed in the Holocaust