Italy’s Culture Ministry has allocated €1.65 million toward the ongoing renovation work at the Venice Jewish museum and three 16th century synagogues in in the historic Venice Ghetto.
The grant comes as part of a €106 million package for nearly 30 projects around the country announced at the end of July as part of the Ministry’s Strategic Plan for Major Cultural Projects.
Focus of the grants is for projects “concerning archives, archaeological sites, museums, historic buildings, fortresses, fortified systems, theatres and monumental complexes of historical, artistic and architectural value.”
A three-year, multi-million euro project to revamp and expand the Venice Jewish Museum complex was announced in July 2020.
Founded in 1953 by the Venice Jewish Community, the Museum, on the main square of the historic Venice Ghetto, features an exhibition of ritual objects and other items and incorporates tours of three of the five jewel-like 16th century synagogues in Ghetto.
Spearheaded and managed by the Venice-based art historian and philanthropist David Landau, the restoration and revamp also includes renovation work on the interiors of three of the synagogues: the Great German Scola (Scola Tedesca) and the Scola Canton, both located in the same building as the Museum’s exhibition rooms, and the Italian Schola, which is located in an adjacent building.
The expansion of the museum is also to include the incorporation of a low-ceilinged Ghetto apartment, located beneath the Great German Schola, and the installation there of an exhibit that will recreate the living conditions of a Jewish family during the Ghetto period.
The original cost estimate was €9 million. In June 2022, the Associated Press reported that, before the new government grant, only around €5 million had been secured and “the original outstanding 4 million euros has now ballooned to 6 million euros because of soaring building costs.”
According to the umbrella Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI), the Ministry said the new, €1.65 million grant will in particular target conservation work on the Great German Scola and its wooden women’s gallery. Dating from 1528, the Scola Tedesca is the oldest synagogue in the Ghetto.
Read our post about the project