News

Vilnius City Municipality announces that the arrangement works of the territory of old Šnipiškės Jewish cemetery shall begin on October 25. There shall be a new green town space next to the Sports Hall after the finish of the territory arrangement works and demolition of the parking lot at the lower part of the terrace.

 

The precise location of the Old Vilnius Jewish Cemetery in Šnipiškės was identified in 2008 on the basis of territorial investigations; it covers the whole territory surrounding the Sports Hall.

The arrangement of territory was proposed by the working group Action Plan Formation to Define the Ways of Arrangement and Memorialization of Šnipiškės Jewish Cemetery and that was formed by the order of the Prime Minister.

 

The historical documentation states that the cemetery was established in 1487, and the first remaining document is dated 1592. It was the first Jewish cemetery in Vilnius and was full by the beginning of the XIXth century; thus, it was closed in 1831.

 

After the closing of the cemetery in 1955, the demolition of aboveground structures began. In the 1980s, a significant part of graves, as well as the territorial boundaries, were destroyed during the construction of the Sports Hall; the existence of the cemetery was concealed. The public outcry about the cemetery’s existence began again in 1996, after the exploratory archaeological excavations.

For more information please contact:
Marketing and Public Relations Division, phone 211 2737.
Information source: http://www.vilnius.lt/newvilniusweb/index.php/116/?itemID=92192