Israeli archaeologists have fully uncovered the large central bimah, the raised platform used for Torah readings, at the site of the Great Synagogue of Vilna in Vilnius, Lithuania, following a month of excavation work, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced.
The excavation also revealed sections of the main prayer hall and women's gallery, colorful terrazzo floors, seating plaques bearing worshippers' names, and a metal plaque engraved with the Ten Commandments.
The synagogue, closely associated with the 18th-century rabbinic scholar Rabbi Eliyahu Kramer, known as the Vilna Gaon, was destroyed by Nazi Germany during World War II and later demolished by Soviet authorities.
Research and excavation at the synagogue and the surrounding communal compound, known as the Shulhoyf, has continued since 2011. This represents the sixth excavation season, conducted jointly by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Lithuania's Cultural Heritage Preservation Forces.
Excavation directors said removing the former school building that had stood over the historic synagogue enabled the latest discoveries. "The removal of the old school building that covered the historic synagogue enabled us, for the first time, to expose additional extensive and continuous sections at the heart of the building," They said in a joint statement.
Among the discoveries were seating plaques marking reserved seats for individual worshippers. Some identified women who prayed in the synagogue's women's gallery, while others bore men's names or identified seats belonging to members of a charitable society that helped administer Vilna's Jewish community.
One plaque marked a seat donated by Gitel Klachek, identified as the wife of the late Yechezkel, the city's shamash. According to excavation organizers, the Klachek family owned several businesses on streets surrounding the synagogue.
The archaeologists said the discoveries provide insight into centuries of Jewish religious and communal life at the site before the destruction of Vilna's Jewish community in the Holocaust.
The excavation is funded by the Good Will Foundation and carried out in cooperation with the Lithuanian Jewish community.