You Shall Not Make an Image: Commandments, Daily Life and Change. Educational Programme
5 March – 14 September 2025
Public Lectures
12 March, 5:30 PM
‘They Must Be Separated in the Eyes of Society from Other People’: Visual Practices of Jewish Separation and Disguise in Lithuania and Europe
Dr Jurgita Verbickienė
22 April, 5:30 PM
Second Commandment of the Decalogue. Why Did a Negative Attitude Towards Jewish Art Came to Be?
Dr Vilma Gradinskaitė
23 April, 5:30 PM
Between Text and Image. Artistic Expression of Jewish Cultural Modernisation in the 18th–20th Centuries
Dr Lara Lempertienė
13 May 5:30 PM
Signs of Everyday Life and Eternity in Synagogue Décor
Dr Rūta Ostrovskaja
20 May, 5:30 PM
Early Lithuanian Photography: Jews on Both Sides of the Lens
Dr Dainius Junevičius
27 May, 5:30 PM
Jewish Vilnius Through the Eyes of Moi-Ver
Dr Arnaud Bikard
2 September, 5:30 PM
Conversation with Eugenijus Bunka
Moderator Dr Jurgita Verbickienė
9 September, 5:30 PM
Remembering the Unknown: Jewish Heritage in Today’s Vilnius
Dr Giedrė Mickūnaitė
Documentary Film Screening at the French Institute in Lithuania (1 Didžioji St., Vilnius)
Secrets of the Great Synagogue of Vilna (dir. Loïc Salfati)
16 April, 5:30 PM
10 September, 5:30 PM
Tours
Free tour with exhibition curators*
29 May, 5:30 PM
Free Sunday tour with the museum guide* **
6 April, 1:00 PM
11, May, 1:00 PM
8, June, 1:00 PM
Registration for free tours with exhibition curators and Sunday tours with museum guides takes place one week before the event
* Free tour participation requires purchasing a museum visitor ticket
** A tour with a museum guide can also be booked individually, by prior arrangement via email at gidai.vpg@lndm.lt or telephone at +370 681 90 329
Public Educational Activities
26 April, 1:00 PM
Life Celebrations
17 May, 1:00 PM
Journey Through Books
Registration for public education sessions takes place one week before the event.
Educational Activities
Life Celebrations
People have celebrated joyful life events – children’s coming of age, weddings, symbolic and calendar transitions of the year, etc. – communally since ancient times, regardless of the practised religion, residency, or spoken language. When Jewish communities celebrated these holidays, the rules specified in Judaism’s religious texts were observed. Walking through the exhibition, we will discover together how European artists saw and captured the local Jewish celebrations and related attributes, and we will discuss how the images of Jewish culture and daily life depicted in the works can be understood. We will pause longer at Wincenty Smokowski’s 19th-century painting Jewish Wedding. We will treat this painting as a historical source that tells the story of the everyday life of Lithuanian and Polish Jews. During a practical session, remembering the traditional Jewish wedding contracts (ketubahs) seen and discussed in the exhibition, we will write and decorate our friendship agreements (formed with a classmate, sister, grandfather, etc.).
Intended for pupils in 3rd–8th forms, but can be adapted for upper-form students as well. Particularly recommended for 6th-form pupils who are introduced to the history, religion, culture, and traditions of the Lithuanian Jewish community as part of their history subject curriculum.
Journey Through Books
Reading books individually and in the community is inseparable from Jewish religious tradition and secular culture. During this educational session, we will become acquainted with the main Jewish religious texts – the Torah and Talmud – and learn how they are read. Together we will embark on a journey through the evolution of books – from manuscripts, incunabula, to the first publishing houses and the popularisation of secular literature. We will evaluate historical women’s relationship with reading in Jewish communities and the children’s early encounter with the world of books in traditional Jewish culture. In the practical part of the education, we will become familiar with the Hebrew alphabet, learn how the Eastern European Jewish language – Yiddish – differs from Hebrew, and try to write our names using the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Did you know that Hebrew letters are also used to write numbers? Together we will unlock this code and write our birth dates using Hebrew letters.
Intended for pupils in 5th–9th forms, but can be adapted for upper-form students.
YIVO on the World Map
The famous 20th-century scientists Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein did not particularly like each other, but one thing united them – YIVO. The YIVO – Institute for Jewish Research – which opened its first doors in Vilnius exactly one hundred years ago, was more than a local phenomenon from the very beginning; it connected Vilnius with Jews who valued the Yiddish language and culture all over the world, and Freud with Einstein became members of YIVO’s honorary praesidium. However, the institute, troubled by the 20th-century unrest, like its valuable collections of books and artworks, had to constantly seek new and safe refuge. Such refuge was found in New York during World War II. This time, we will begin our educational walk from the last exhibition hall, where we will become acquainted with the thriller-worthy history of YIVO and its creators, then visit other spaces, searching like detectives for works that YIVO lent from its repositories for this exhibition, and consider how they relate to YIVO’s original mission – to preserve and nurture the Yiddish language and the culture created in it. We will complete our introduction to YIVO with an educational entertainment-game – divided into two groups, we will have to mark YIVO’s connections with the world on pre-prepared maps as quickly as possible.
Intended for pupils in 9th–12th forms and adults.
Registration to the education sessions via telephone at +370 682 45 314, and email at augustina.ivanauskaite@lndm.lt
VILNIUS PICTURE GALLERY
4 Didžioji Street, Vilnius
Phone +370 5 261 1685, email vpg@lndm.lt
Follow us on social media:
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/VilniausPaveiksluGalerija
Instagram @vilniauspaveikslugalerija
Vilnius Picture Gallery Opening Hours
Tue – 10:00 AM–8:00 PM
Wed-Sat – 10:00 AM–6:00 PM
Sun – 11:00 AM–5:00 PM
Closes one hour earlier on days before public holidays. Closed on Mondays and public holidays
Admission Prices
Adults – €6
Concessions – €3
Guided tour in Lithuanian – 20 Eur, other language – 25 Eur
Free admission for International Council of Museums (ICOM) members.
Educational Session Prices
Child – 3 Eur
Adult – 5 Eur
Free admission to activities is available for accompanying teachers, preschool children, orphans and children deprived of parental care, disabled persons and their accompanying persons (one accompanying person per individual).
Education Session Timing
Tue–Fri 10:00 AM–5:00 PM
Exhibition Organiser: Vilnius Picture Gallery, YIVO Institute
Curators: Jurgita Verbickienė, Gabija Kasparavičiutė-Kaminskienė, Aistė Bimbirytė
Architect Austė Kuliešiūtė-Šemetė
Designer Miglė Datkūnaitė
Translator Raminta Bumbulytė
Education Programme Author Akvilė Naudžiūnienė
Project financed by Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania
In partnership with: Marc Chagall Association, BTA Insurance, Samogitian Museum Alka, Panevėžys Diocese, M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art, Lithuanian State Historical Archives, Lithuanian Art Centre TARTLE, Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, Vilnius University Library, Lithuanian National Museum, Vilnia Gaon Museum of Jewish History, Pakruojis Land Museum, Municipality of Pakruojis Region, KR Art Services, Trakai History Museum, Biržai Land Museum Sėla, Žiežmariai Cultural Centre, Customs of the Republic of Lithuania, Institut Français de Lituanie, AD Rem Transport, Church Heritage Museum, Eugenijus Bunka, Dr Jaunius Gumbis, Loic Salfati, Eglė Ridikaitė, Daumantas Todesas
Media sponsors: LRT, JCDecaux Lietuva
4 Didžioji st, Vilnius, Lithuania
+370 5 261 1685
vpg@lndm.lt
