The Jewish Quarter

The Jewish quarter / Vilnius getto was formed in the Old Town. For more than 600 years founded in 1941, the quarter that once occupied most of the present Old Town was a Jewish neighborhood of goldsmiths, glassblowers, craftspeople and financiers.

The Goldsmiths Guild was founded here 1495, followed by the first glass manufactory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1547. This historic community was named the Glass Quarter in 2018, and accounts for the fact that at one point there were once three Glass Streets within it. According to 1784 census there were around 5000 Jews in Vilnius at that time; according to 1897 census Jews constituted 38.8% of town's population (64,000 Jews). After WWI their number somewhat decreased, in 1923 55,000 Jews lived here (33.3% of town's population), and on the eve of WWII, in 1939, Jews made up 27.9% of town's population which was around 60.000 people.

Jews set up a synagogue in the palace of Duke Slushka / Slusko palace; later the famous Great Synagogue of Vilnius was built. Religious thought began developing very intensively. Forty prominent rabbis lived in Vilnius in the second half of 17th century, although there were only 2500 Jews here at that time. And in 18th century the great genius Gaon of Vilna emerged. Since then Vilnius became a recognized spiritual center. It was called Jerusalem of Lithuania.

The area of small ghetto covers the Gaono, Žydų, Stiklių and Antokolskio streets and has many signs reminding about the Jewish life. The neighbourhood is one the first places where Jews settled down in Vilnius. In the 17th century this area became more famous because of the glass market and generally was known as the Jewish quarter. During the Nazi occupation the historical Jewish quarter was made into the Small Ghetto where about 11 000 Jews were kept for two months until October 1941. While wandering around in those cozy narrow streets you would see the memorial plates dedicated to the Ghettos and the Greater synagogue, you would also find a monument to Vilna Gaon, a plate written in Hebrew and Yiddish on the Jewish (Žydų) street and would get a feeling of how Jews lived in Vilnius before the WW2.

Today, a kindergarten stands in the place of the Great Synagogue, adjacent to the Gaon Monument. Narrow and crooked streets with transverse arcades have retained their original appearance, and some ancient architecture has been restored: primarily houses on Stiklių and Gaono Streets.

The former Great Synagogue stood on Žydų Street and could accommodate about 5,000 believers. Next to it stood the Gaon house of prayer, the famous Strašūnas Library, and other religious buildings belonging to the synagogue. Soviet authorities destroyed them all.