New Jewish Museum in Lithuania Honors Lost Village with Architectural Clusters

The Lost Shtetl Jewish Museum, designed by Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects, has been completed in Šeduva, Lithuania, in 2025. This 4,900-square-meter institution commemorates the Jewish community of Šeduva, which was eradicated in August 1941 when 664 residents were executed in nearby forests. Rather than replicating the original village, the architects created a cluster of abstract, house-like volumes with hip roofs, evoking a shtetl through their scale and arrangement. The facades are clad in marine aluminum shingles, chosen for durability and recyclability, which reference traditional Lithuanian rural buildings and change appearance with light and weather. The layout features narrow passageways connecting galleries, mimicking a village walk and allowing for future expansion. The site includes a memorial park with a birch alley, meadows, wetlands, and an orchard, tracing the last journey of the victims. Visitors enter at an upper level and descend to exhibition spaces, with skylights providing controlled daylight. Interior highlights include a memorial wall of mouth-blown glass pieces listing 294 former Lithuanian shtetls, and two thematic spaces: the Canyon of Holocaust and the Canyon of Hope. The museum's curatorial narrative was developed prior to architectural design, focusing on one shtetl while acknowledging the broader historical context.