In 2016, an extraordinary project was born, hosted in the Troyes Synagogue: providing a “house” for Rashi in his native town, set inside a typical 17th-century Champagne-style background. After four years of work, the results of the synagogue’s restoration are exceptional: visitors are invited to pray under the splendid glass roof of the sanctuary, wander amidst a 2000-square-meter labyrinth of courtyards, halls and cellars and learn about the adventure of this reconstruction. The synagogue of Troyes also invites visitors to immerse themselves in Rashi’s universe, through an ambitious exhibition titled “Rashi’s House”, in which visitors can discover Rashi and his work, thanks to an immersive and innovative digital scenography. This exhibition shares the story of Rashi and his disciples, who were able to transmit the soul of French Judaism far beyond the borders of the Champagne area, influencing rabbinical literature far beyond the 13th century, end of the Tossafists era in Champagne. A recreated oratory and bet hamidrash (study hall) immerse visitors in the medieval Troyes of Rashi. Visitors are also invited to study Rashi’s commentaries on digital devices, creating an innovative interactive experience.
Site Tag: Museum
National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah (MEIS)
The MEIS has been open for several years, staging exhibitions, conferences and festivals. For the events calendar see http://www.meisweb.it/. Further development is underway in the permanent building.
The Museum was established as a Foundation by an Act of Parliament with the aim of illustrating the culture and history of Jews in Italy, dating back more than two millennia: a contemporary museum, a cultural arena, with no permanent collection, a space designed as a “ever-changing possibilities”.
The Italian Parliament selected Ferrara as the seat of the National Museum for a number of reasons, including the glorious history of the local Jewry, once one of the largest and most active communities in Italy, which was further popularized in the 20th century through Giorgio Bassani’s stories, set in the city.
When it came to choosing the site, the Via Piangipane former prison – built in 1912 and closed in 1992 – was selected. The museum design is based upon the building’s complete change of identity: from confinement and marginalisation, to openness and relationships. Only two of the original prison’s blocks, built as a T, have been preserved – those that best represent its original function: the panoptic block – with a view over all the compound –, and the one on Via Piangipane, the original façade facing the city. The entry selected in the international competition has five new glass and concrete buildings, on the site of the demolished blocks, for the five books of the Torah, and a garden. The buildings include the museum exhibition halls, educational rooms, an auditorium, a bookshop, kosher restaurant and coffee shop.
Jewish Museum of Ferrara
A collection of ceremonial artefacts and many other items witnessing Ferrara’s Jewish history.
Bet Hillel Synagogue
Bet Hillel Synagogue was established in the house of the Palachi family. Rabbi Hayim Palachi (1788-1869) and his son Rabbi Abraham Palachi (1809-1899) were the most prominent theologians of the Izmir Jewish community in the 19th century. Both being referred to as the greatest men of the period, their reputation went beyond Izmir and the Ottoman Empire then, causing the Jewish theologues of Europe and Middle East to come to Izmir for consultation.
Rabbi Hayim Palachi wrote a total of 72 books all through his life, and of these, 26 books were published. He was awarded the “theologian responsible for justice” in 1861 by the Sultan Abdulmecid.
Along with the tomb of Rabbi Hayim Palachi and the Mikveh (purification pool) in the Gurcesme cemetery, Bet Hillel Synagogue is believed to be among the holy places by Palachi’s students.
David Baazov Museum of History of Jews of Georgia
The David Baazov Museum of History of Jews of Georgia, located on 3 Anton Catholicos St, Tbilisi, is a principal museum of the Jewish history and culture. It was established on 30 November of 1932 by the board of Garebcom as a department organization – in a cult-base of Jewish workers. It was officially established on 23 November of 1933 – demanded by the social commissariat of Georgian education. The building is built by brick; from outside it has multiple angles, while inside is round. The museum has many exhibits and rarities: archeological, ethnographic, historical, epigraphic, manuscript, printed, artistic, archives, photographs, etc. The museum has published important scientific works for Kartvelology/Georgian studies and 9 volumes of Hebrew studies. Expeditions are held by the museum in different parts of Georgia, exhibitions, international scientific conferences dedicated to the issues of the history of Georgian Jews, Georgian-Jewish and Georgian-Palestinian relations.
Georgian National Centre of Manuscripts
The Georgian National Centre of Manuscripts, located in Tbilisi, Georgia, is a repository of ancient manuscripts, of historical documents and of the private archives by eminent public figures. One of the most significant manuscripts kept in the museum is the Lailashi Bible, which was found in Lailashi village by Giorgi Tsereteli. The manuscript was brought to Georgia in the 1940s and was kept in the Museum of History of Jews until 1951. Since 1957 the manuscript has been kept in the Georgian National Centre of Manuscripts. The Lailashi Bible represents a handwritten version of Torah, accompanied with comments and colorful geometrical decorative figures. It’s also unique due to the fact that it had Jewish inscriptions and some of the geometrical decorations are colorful. The manuscript is written on parchment and is an old testament with masoretic text, which tells us a story of the first humans, the first sin and its consequences, the despature from heaven and the multiplication of humankind, but the Lailashi Bible is considered unexplored due to an assumption that it lacks sixteen pages. A paleographic analysis of the manuscript makes it possible to suggest that it belongs to the X-XI centuries. The manuscript weighs 10 Kilos. There are very few Torahs, around the world, that are made in such a way, mostly Torah is written on a scroll, while the Lailashi bible is a book, which makes it very rare for this period. The book is broken up at the moment, it is bound and doesn’t have a cover, since it needs restoration. The Lailashi bible has always been the center of attention, even criminals were interested in it and attempted to steal it in the 90s. The guard of The Georgian National Centre of Manuscripts was offered 50,000 dollars for the manuscript, but the guard did not give in.
Georgian National Museum
The Georgian National Museum, the biggest union of the country’s leading museums, is a scientific, educational and cultural center. The Georgian National Museum delivers special attention to the study, restoration, conservation and promotion of Jewish collections. Part of the Jewish collections of the Georgian National Museum is presented at the exposition of David Baazov Museum of History of the Jews and Georgian-Jewish Relations. In 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 Georgian National Museum has held four exhibitions and published three catalogues all dedicated to Jewish collections. And through the projects implemented over the last decade, it became possible to regulate the collections, prepare exhibitions and publications. Exhibitions of Jewish collections presented the culture and the lifestyle of Goergian Jews in the forms of objects used for rituals, everyday life, religious; transcripts; costumes; accessories; amulets; photos, etc. One of the notable items that is kept in Georgian National Museum is the Armazi Bilingual, also referred to as the Stele of Serap. It is dated as the year of 150 and was found in Armaziskhevi, Mtskheta on 25 November of 1940. The bilingual Greco-Aramaic tombstone inscription commemorates the short-lived Serapita and her noble lineage. It contains an unusual, in its ductus and some of its forms, version of the Aramaic alphabet which came to be known as the “Armazi script” although it can also be found outside Armazi, in other parts of Georgia. The discovery of this bilingual revealed many political and cultural parts of the country in the I century, such as institutes in the kingdom and the king of Iberia himself.
The Jewish Museum
The Jewish Museum set up on two floors inside the Synagogue completes and enriches the visit to the monumental Synagogue. It’s an amazing collection of ancient objects of Jewish Ceremonial Art, examples of the high artistic value of the Jewish Italian culture in the field of applied arts. The museum tour retraces the history of the Jews of Florence from the first settlements to the post-war reconstruction with the help of photographic panels, videos and documentary sources.
On the first floor of the museum you will find an extraordinary exhibition from the 1981, “Friends of the Jewish Museum of Florence” which offers an historic overview of the Jewish community in Florence. Thanks to a photographic collection of documents, you will discover the history of the old ghetto and its relationship with the rest of the city.
The second-floor is dedicated to the objects and the furnishings related to the most significant events in the Jewish life, family rituals and religious festivities. One room is in memory of the Holocaust and equipped for film projections. The public can access a computer area which is linked up with the main Jewish museums and centres around the world. The second floor of the museum has limited wheelchair access: upon exiting the lift, there is a slightly sloped platform, and two flights of steps (5 and 8 steps respectively) which can be used with a chairlift (which must be operated by a companion).
The Synagogue of Florence
The Synagogue of Florence is a great monumental building, a place of worship and integral part of the history of the city. The Synagogue was inaugurated in 1882, after the emancipation of Italian Jews and decentralized from the area of the old Jewish Ghetto which was demolished in the last decade of the 19th century. In the period in which Florence became the Capital City of the Kingdom of Italy, between 1865 and 1870, the Synagogue became a symbol of the acquired freedom characterized by its green copper dome and its façade. Inside you will feel a very impressive atmosphere typical of the oriental taste of the European monumental synagogues built in the late 19th century. Thanks to its monumental architecture, the Synagogue stands out and affirms the integration of the community within civil society, and the achievement of equal rights.
Jewish Museum of Rome
A first exhibition space was created in 1960, and has been expanded and renewed several times since. A complete scientific overhaul ended in 2005 led to its current organisation, in the basement of the Tempio Maggiore.
The museum describes the history and nature of the Jewish presence in Rome, using testimonies and witnesses: liturgical furnishings, manuscripts, incunabula, historical documents and stone fragments. It focuses on the artistic quality and extent of the collection of ceremonial art passed down from the Cinque Scole, a collection built up over the centuries thanks to donations by families wishing to demonstrate their bond with the synagogue they belonged to.
The exhibition itinerary will take visitors through seven rooms, labelled according to their content and main themes: “La guardaroba dei tessuti” (“The fabric wardrobe”), “Da Judaei a Giudei: Roma e i suoi Ebrei” (“From the Judaei to Judeans: Rome and its Jews” – the settlement, from their origins to the establishment of the ghetto), “Feste dell’anno, feste della vita” (“Feasts of the year, feasts of life”), “I tesori delle Cinque Scole” (“The treasures of the Cinque Scole”), “Vita e Sinagoghe nel ghetto” (“Life and Synagogues in the Ghetto”), “Dall’Emancipazione a oggi” (“From Emancipation to the present day”), and “L’ebraismo libico” (“Libyan Jewry”). The outer space in front of the entrance houses the “Gallery of Antique Marbles”, with important stone artefacts dating from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, from the Cinque Scole and the Confraternities of the Ghetto.
The Museum has also an access for wheelchair users and includes a guided tour of the Tempio Maggiore and the Tempio Spagnolo.
There is a Bookshop selling books and souvenirs close to the ticket office.
