The former synagogue is a part of our sacrilegious heritage and a witness of Lithuanian Jews’ history.
Supposedly the synagogue was designed by the architect Valerijus Rybarskis in 1899.
It is a building of eclectic Historicism era, which was built in the centre of the city in the early 20th century. External design richly decorated with architectural elements of neo-romantic, neo-gothic and oriental styles.
The synagogue designed by rectangular plan with plastered masonry and a semicircular apse. Aron kodesh or Torah ark is the key element of the décor. It is in the ornate cabinet on the eastern side, with two entrances to the synagogue on the west side and one on the north.
The building composed of two parts of different heights: the majestic two-story western part and much lower prayer halls in the east with even lower apse. It has a gabled roof with frontons; however, the apse’s tin roof is arched. The main entrance is the central part of the western facade.
A symmetrical façade has four decorative, vertical, masonry bands that divides it into three parts, and crosses the cornice. The corner lesenes slightly protruding above the roof; their upper part is decorated with horseshoe-shaped cut-outs. A central recess comprises of a rectangular portico and a bifora arched second floor window, and a blind arcade above it. In the spaces between tall windows the embossment rosettes are placed. A symbolic motif of the Decalogue is incorporated into gable’s alcove. The Decalogue or The Ten Commandments are ten laws in the Bible that God gave to the nation of Israel shortly after the exodus from Egypt. The Ten Commandments are essentially a summary of the 613 commandments contained in the Old Testament Law. The first four commandments deal with our relationship with God. The last six commandments deal with our relationships with one another. Both sides of the gable and the apse have round windows each.
A recess of the side façade comprises of a rectangular window on the first floor, and the second floor gothic windows that are bounded by cornices. The interior was decorated by local craftsmen, but no authentic details have survived. The main room of the synagogue is the men’s prayer hall containing a bimah, a raised platform where the table of the rabbi is found and the Torah scroll is placed to be read. Women had a separate space in the left corner of the hall or on the balcony, with a separate entrance from the outside. A sleeping place for beggars was arranged near an entryway; above it was a choir gallery, under - basements.
The synagogue functioned until the Second World War. During the Soviet period both the interior and the exterior were ravaged. In 1985 the building was reconstructed and housed Marijampolė engineers. After another decade an education centre was opened in the premises.
In 2014 Marijampolė‘s Meilės Lukšienės education centre opened its doors for the art gallery of Beatričė Klezaitė-Vasaris. The reconstruction was not completely authentic in relation to the original building’s design.
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