Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum (VGSJM)

Partly located in the city’s former Jewish theatre, the Vilna Gaon State Museum exhibits historical material about Lithuanian Jewry. While Jewish museums have existed in Lithuania since 1913, most were destroyed under the Soviet regime. The museum was created in 1989, still in Soviet Lithuania. It was later renamed after Vilna Gaon, the renowned Torah scholar who was one of the key leaders that propelled Vilna’s reputation as a center of Jewish thought and culture.

The museum is home to the Tolerance Center, the Holocaust Exhibition, and a memorial to the victims of the Ponary massacres.