Once Upon A Time In Lithuania is a fascinating exhibition exploring the echoes of the Holocaust that linger on in the Baltic nation, writes Leslie Goodwin.

The Richard Attenborough Centre is the first British venue outside London to stage the show, which stems from a residence in Lithuania by the acclaimed artist Naomi Alexander.

Works include oil paintings. sketches and pastel drawings of the buildings she saw and people she met while in the country.

Alexander, who is of Lithuanian origin, wanted to record the last remnants of Jewish heritage to be found in the country.

She travelled widely, drawing buildings where Jews had lived and recording the stories of the people that she met on her journeys.

She returned to Dorbin, where her grandmother had lived, and the sites of Nazi atrocities such as the Ninth Fort in Kovno and the forests of Paneriai.

The exhibition, which has been organised by the London Jewish Cultural Centre, was first shown at their London gallery before travelling to the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania.

In the painting Woman of Telz, an oil painting on wood, the figure gazes out of the canvas wrapped in a striped dress. She looks as if she is about to clean up the surrounding area but thinks “is it really worth it?”

The sombre hues give the work a melancholy air, evocative, perhaps, of the wretched conditions in which she lived.

The verdict? You will learn a great deal.

Once Upon a Time in Lithuania runs at The Richard Attenborough Centre, University of Leicester, until April 5.

As part of the run, Professor Aubrey Newman, of the Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust Studies, will give a lecture detailing the destruction of the Jewish community during the early 1940s. It’s on Monday, February 16 at 6.30pm.

Entry to the lecture is free but places must be booked. Ring 0116 252 2455.