A court has temporarily suspended a tender for a contractor as the Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History is looking who could renovate its premises in Vilnius to house a museum of the Holocaust in Lithuania and the Vilna Ghetto.
However, Simonas Strelcovas, head of the Vilna Gaon Museum, hopes this will not prevent opening the new museum to visitors in 2025.
He says the court decision is being appealed and hopes this will not delay the renovation process.
“I cannot comment in detail on the process. The interim measures have also been appealed as they are causing significant financial losses to the state because we have to absorb a large amount of money this year. [...] It is supposed to open in 2025, and I hope it will,” Strelcovas told BNS.
In his words, the goal is to open the new museum in the former ghetto library where a school operated during the Soviet era. The building was later handed over to the Vilna Gaon Museum.
“The building is in a poor shape [...]. It is of historical value, which is rare in Central and Eastern Europe where cities or towns were destroyed during the war, and we have a historical building where we want to open a museum,” Strelcovas said.
The new museum will house exhibitions reflecting the history of the Holocaust in Lithuania and the Vilnius Ghetto, featuring artefacts from the ghetto area and other exhibits.
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