The first market square in Kėdainiai was formed in the 15th century, as the oldest market place got its name from the Old Market. It is believed that the first town hall stood here. 17th c. I p. Jews settled near it.
The synagogue complex on the northern edge of the Old Market Square consists of the Great Summer and the Little Winter Synagogues. It is one of the three synagogue complexes in Lithuania.
The Great Summer Synagogue was built by the Jews in 1784. The work was funded by a wealthy member of the community, Abraham Rome, and construction was completed three years later. It took 23 years for the interior equipment, but in 1807. After completing the works, the Jews were proud that their sanctuary was the most beautiful and beautiful in Lithuania. Only the men prayed in the spacious main room of the synagogue, and the women were given a two-storey, semi-brick, semi-wooden annex with low vaulted windows on the north wall. The Late Baroque Great Summer Synagogue was named for its unheated premises. The form and exterior decor of the building are similar to the form and decor of the Evangelical Reformed Church. The current interior of the synagogue is eclectic, adapted to the Kėdainiai Art School located here.
The small winter synagogue emerged in 1837 when it became too cramped for a growing community to pray in one synagogue. The synagogue, named after the Little Winter, was heated, its interior decorated with restraint. It was not only praying but also studying the Torah, the community court was sitting. After the restoration, it retained its original form: the division of spaces between men and women, the location of a bima surrounded by four pillars (the Torah rises to read), a vaulted niche near the former Aron ha Kodesh (Torah storage), a flat ceiling decorated with octagonal nerves. Exhibitions, concerts, conferences, book presentations and educational activities take place in the Multicultural Center of the Kėdainiai Regional Museum, which now operates in the synagogue.
(Information prepared by Audronė Pečiulytė)
Translated by Google •
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