Great Synagogue of Vilna

Great Synagogue
Watercolor by Juozas Kamarauskas, 1899
Religion
Affiliation	Orthodox Judaism (former)
Rite	Nusach Ashkenaz
Ecclesiastical or organisational status	Synagogue (1572–c. 1941)
Status	Destroyed
Location
Location	I-2 Jewish Street, Vilnius' Old Town, Vilnius, Vilnius County
Country	Lithuania
Location of the destroyed synagogue in Vilnius, Lithuania
Geographic coordinates	54°40′48″N 25°17′05″E / 54.68000°N 25.28472°E / 54.68000; 25.28472
Architecture
Type	Synagogue architecture
Style	Renaissance Baroque
Groundbreaking	1630
Completed	1633 (rebuild)
Destroyed	c. 1955 – c. 1957
Specifications
Capacity	5,000 seats
Materials	Stone
[1]

The Great Synagogue, officially, the Great City Synagogue in Vilna, also the Great Synagogue of Vilnius, is a former Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located atI-2 Jewish Street in the Old Town of Vilnius, in the Vilnius County of Lithuania.

Designed in the Renaissance and Baroque styles, the stone building was completed in 1633 and operated as a synagogue until it was devastated by Nazis in 1941. In 1945, the former synagogue was still standing, although roofless. In 1946 the short living Jewish Museum of Vilnius tried to list the synagogue as a historic monument and thus to preserve it, but without success. In 1947 the synagogue was blasted and its ruins were demolished by 1957 and replaced by a kindergarten and a primary school.^[1] The synagogue was located on the spot of an existing synagogue built in 1572, the site had first been used to house a Jewish house of prayer in 1440.