On 31 March 2011, the exhibition “The Last Wooden Synagogues” of the works by the French artist Gilles Vuillard was opened the Tolerance Centre of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum in Vilnius.

In his works, the artist draws attention to wooden synagogues, the fast-disappearing unique part of the cultural heritage and their historical and cultural importance. The last signs of the Litvaks’ culture in Lithuania are disappearing together with the architecture of the wooden Jewish houses or worship. 

Vuillard focuses on the beauty of the wooden buildings and their architectural value. The artist links the contemporary figurative trend and the plastic means of expression used by the artists of the Barbizon School, the Russian Peredvizhniki and the American regionalists. He imparts life to the wooden synagogues with the strokes of shimmering warm colours, which creates a parallel between history, architecture, landscape and social life. Some paintings are almost abstract, for instance, depicting the burning synagogue in Pakruojis (set on fire in 2009).

Vuillard emphasises that “only thirteen wooden synagogues have survived in Lithuania, which shows that a large part of the cultural heritage has been destroyed together with the European Jewry. They are a reminder of the Litvaks and famous Yiddish culture. There were hundreds of wooden synagogues in eastern Europe, unique objects of the heritage. Historical awareness urges us to save these buildings now.”

Markas Zingeris, director the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum, and Audelin Chappuis, cultural attaché of the Embassy of France and deputy director of the French Culture Centre addressed those who participated in the opening ceremony of the exhibition.  

Addressing the guests, Vuillard emphasised that the architectural monuments – the wooden synagogues scattered across Lithuania – were in appalling condition. “According to Pablo Picasso, painting is not for the few chosen, it is a weapon. My reaction to the shameful fate that met the synagogues was to paint a series of them in flames (“Pakruojis Synagogue”, 2010). I am concerned with the fate of these buildings. The wooden synagogues, those wonderful buildings in a simple village style are signs of the Lithuanian Jewry, the Litvaks. Their architectural style is similar to the local Lithuanian wooden architecture: timber was the only and main building material, with roofs of wooden chips and so on. In order to protect the remaining wooden synagogues we should create A Wooden Synagogue Road, a subtle tourist attraction. There could be centres where culture and historic memory come alive, with museums, mediatheques and libraries.”

Philippe Seigneurin, advisor to the French ambassador, Helmut Koller, the Austrian ambassador, and other honourable guests were present at the launching of the exhibition.