Founded in 1925, the Kaunas Municipal Vincas Kudirka Public Library is one of Lithuania’s oldest institutions of the kind. It’s also one of the most innovative ones – its creative team continually surprises us with new projects and initiatives beyond the traditional book sharing system.

This time it’s a virtual guide that invites you to discover more than 40 objects representing the Jewish heritage in Kaunas. Some of the objects are long gone, many of them have changed a lot throughout the years as most of the local Jewish community, which was once very big and vital in Kaunas, was killed during WW2. Nevertheless, the interactive map presents our history in a captivating way and shares not only object descriptions, but also VR experience. It’s possible to choose between Lithuanian, English, German and Russian. 

The guide consists of synagogues, educational institutions, business objects, memorials, public places and, of course, people. The narrative is accompanied by historic photos from the archives of Kaunas City Museum, Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History and Lithuanian State Historical Archives, and current visual information. Here are some of the pictures for you to compare.

Hasidic Synagogue in Kaunas, 1961. Photo by S. Lukošius. Archive of Kaunas City Museum

Hasidic Synagogue in Kaunas today.

Malkė Bruskienė house, 1960. Photo by S. Lukošius. Archive of Kaunas City Museum

Malkė Bruskienė house today.

Volfas-Engelman brewery, 1956. Photo by S. Lukošius. Archive of Kaunas City Museum

Former Volfas-Engelman brewery today

The project symbolically ends 2020, the year of the Vilna Gaon and the History of the Jews of Lithuania.

We hope you use the guide when you visit Kaunas in the future, but it is also a great source of information and inspiration before your trip. Click here to open it. For more information about Jewish heritage in Kaunas, we invite you to check our “The Litvak Landscape” and “The Litvaks of Slobodka” maps of the It’s Kaunastic series. Both are available in our digital shelves.