Although there were over a hundred Jewish prayer houses in Vilnius at the beginning of the 20th century, only two were continually called by the name ‘synagogue’. The first one – Taharat Ha-Kodesh Choral synagogue is located on Pylimo street and is still used according to its original purpose. The second synagogue was The Great Synagogue, which stood right in front of you, and was also known as the City Synagogue (Yid. די שטאָט שול; di shtot-shul). The rest of the Jewish prayer houses were called kloyzn. These were established by private individuals, religious brotherhoods, associations of merchants and craftsmen, and by study groups. Although at first kloyzn had been mostly located in the Jewish quarter, later they spread throughout the city, together with the expansion of the Jewish living space. Not a single prayer house in the city could match the Great Synagogue of Vilnius, in either size or importance. It was the symbol of the city’s community and indeed all the Jews of Lithuania.Traditionally it has been maintained that the first synagogue to stand in this place was built in 1573. After few demolitions, it was rebuilt anew in 1633 when Jews, settling in Vilnius, managed to obtain several privileges in succession from Władysław IV Waza (1595-1648). The first privilege permitted the formation of the Vilnius Jewish quarter, comprising a few streets, whereas the second allowed construction of a stone synagogue in Jewish Street (Žydų g.). A stone synagogue in the Renaissance style was built during the 1630s. Subsequently, it was reconstructed, expanded, and beautified up until the Second World War when it was ruined and finally demolished in 1953 (despite efforts to preserve the synagogue by those Jews, who survived the Holocaust).