We’ve highlighted a number of virtual tours and other online Jewish heritage resources since the beginning of the pandemic, and with new lockdowns and restrictions that will most likely keep people pretty much at home this winter, we’ll be highlighting more….
Here are three new interactive online trails of Jewish history and heritage in and around Cardiff, Wales, prepared by the Jewish History Association of South Wales.
The trails can be viewed in English and in Welsh.
All use text, photographs, a timeline, and audio to tell their stories, linking to collections and audio excerpts from oral histories on People’s Collection Wales. Five “before and after videos” are included. Lists of links, references, and sources are given for those who want to explore this history more.
The first is for Central Cardiff.
It covers the development of the Cardiff Jewish community during the 19th century, together with some businesses from the first half of the 20th century.
It visits the sites of early synagogues, the Jewish business centre around Bridge Street and the early sites of the mikvah, a junior school and the social club — unfortunately, Cardiff has been subject to much redevelopment, so almost all the sites on this trail have either been demolished or are no longer in Jewish use.
One is for western areas of and near Cardiff
It visits Cardiff Bay, two late nineteenth century synagogues, an early site of what is believed to be the oldest surviving Jewish-owned business in Cardiff, an arts centre, and two cemeteries as well as a public art project.
One is for northern areas of and near Cardiff
The tour visits the oldest Jewish cemetery (with a link to an online database of all burials there), as well as the site of the demolished 1955 synagogue and a care home.The
It reveals more contributions to the arts and the last Jewish bakery and butcher shops.
It also shows the development of Reform Judaism. It concludes at the gated Cardiff United Synagogue.
The Heritage Trails are dedicated to the memory of Adrian Victor Cohen, a nuclear scientist who grew up in Cardiff and passed away earlier this year, in his 90s. He researched and wrote his family history, and his work was a key source in putting together the Trails.
Click to find start links to all three Cardiff Jewish heritage trails (in English)
Read a blog post by Heritage Trails Coordinator Mike Hawkins about Adrian Victor Cohen
Web site of the Jewish History Association of South Wales