Karaite kenasa, Vilnius

Karaite kenas in Vilnius is located on the street Lubarto, 6. Its construction, according to the project of the architect M. Prozorov, began in 1908, when the ceremony of laying the foundation of the first stone on the site where the wooden kenas had previously stood. Until 1913, walls were erected and the roof was laid, but construction work was interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War. And only in 1921 the work was resumed and the consecration of kenasa was carried out on September 9, 1923 by Phineas Maletsky.

In plan, the building was a rectangle made in Moorish style, with a dome crowning the facade. It consisted of three parts: a small room at the entrance, the main prayer hall for men and a gallery for women. In 1949, according to the decision of the Committee on Religious Cults of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the kenasa was closed, and in 1989 the kenasa was again transferred to the Karaite religious society of Lithuania and the building was reconstructed during five years of restoration work.

Unfortunately, during those 40 years, during which the building was used for other purposes, many objects of worship disappeared without a trace, in particular, a gilded altar ("gahal") of cypress wood, Persian carpets, analoi (tables for prayer books and other items), altar curtains, altar and wall candlesticks, two chandeliers and even wooden benches for parishioners.

The grand opening of the kenas building on Lyubarto Street, 6 took place in mid-October 1993 and was timed to the celebrations dedicated to Professor Zayonchkovsky.