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World Jewish News
Fire destroys wooden synagogue in Lithuania
05.05.2009
Fire partially destroyed a historic wooden synagogue building in Lithuania.
Sunday's blaze seriously damaged the roof, ceiling and walls of the former synagogue in the village of Pakruojis, destroying about half of the building. The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but news reports said arson was suspected.
The synagogue, built in about 1801, was the oldest of the dozen or so wooden synagogues that survive in Lithuania. Long abandoned, it had been used as a cinema and sports hall in the 1950s. It originally had an ornate interior, with colorful wall paintings and a richly carved Ark and central bimah.
Last year, art historians raised an alarm about the building, noting that planking had been removed from one wall and that fire was a danger as homeless people frequently sheltered there.
Many ornate wooden synagogues stood in Eastern Europe before World War II, but all were destroyed by the Nazis. The only ones to survive were a few outwardly simple buildings, such as that in Pakruojis.
Источник: JTA
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