Photo exhibition of wooden synagogues in Stockholm
On 10th of November an exhibition “Cadiz for wooden synagogues of Lithuania” was opened in the Jewish Community Center in Stockholm. The exhibition presents twenty large format photographs and wooden fragments of synagogues.
The event was opened by the Lithuanian Ambassador in Sweden Eitvydas Bajarūnas and John Gradowski, representative of the Stockholm Jewish Community Center. Daumantas Levas Todesas, the initiator and author of the exhibition “Cadiz for wooden synagogues of Lithuania”, the representative of Jakovas Bunka Charity and Sponsorship Fund, as well as the other representative of this Fund Judita Gliauberžonaitė presented current and envisaged initiatives by the Charity and Sponsorship Fund.
According to the Ambassador E.Bajarūnas, it is very important to share the unique culture of the Lithuanian Jews - Litvaks - with the world. “Especially it is very symbolic in Sweden, in the country where the Jewish community still has strong links with the Litvak background, "said the Ambassador.
Jurgita Verbickienė, a lecturer of the Center for Studies of the Culture and History of the East European Jews of Vilnius University emphasised that the unique architecture of these sacred buildings impresses with its exclusivity and the interior decoration of the synagogues highlights the traditional art of the Litvaks. J. Verbickienė also marked that “regrettably not many synagogues survived till nowadays in Vilnius, Kaunas, Siauliai and other towns in Lithuania. Today only drawings and photographs can convey former fragments of Litvak’s life; reveal an interesting and unique, but at the same time already disappearing world of wooden synagogues”.
To this day there are 17 wooden synagogues in Lithuania.
This exhibition invites and encourages saving and preserving this important part of Lithuanian culture and history. This is like chanting of Cadiz (memorial prayer) for wooden synagogues of Lithuania.
The event was organized by Jakovas Bunka Charity and Sponsorship Fund in Lithuania, the Jewish Community Center in Stockholm and the Embassy of Lithuania in Stockholm, with the support of the International Cultural Programme Centre and The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania.
This was already a second project this year organized by the Embassy of Lithuania in Sweden and held in the Jewish Community Center in Stockholm. In May a concert “Letter from the past” was organized presenting opera singer Rafailas Karpis.
