LITHUANIA: Two ritual baths once belonging to the Great Synagogue of Vilna have been rediscovered. The massive synagogue complex was completed in 1636 but was looted and burned by the Nazis during World War II and torn down shortly thereafter by Soviet authorities. Because 17th-century laws did not allow the synagogue to be built higher than the city’s churches, the demand for space required the building to contain substantial subterranean levels, where the partially preserved baths are located. —Jason Urbanus