The Spanish Synagogue in Prague will close to the public June 1 for partial repair and restoration — including installation of a new permanent exhibition that will feature interactive elements and modern visitor facilities. It will reopen in late 2020.
The Synagogue currently houses the Prague Jewish Museum’s exhibition “The History of the Jews in Bohemia and Moravia in the 19th–20th Centuries,” which was installed during the first major reconstruction of the building in 1994-1998.
The new exhibition, the Museum states in a news release, has the working title “Jewish Emancipation, Shoah and Postwar Czechoslovakia from 1780 to the Present” and will focus on the same themes as the current exhibit.
Above all, it will change the means and style of the presentation, as well as its technical and design aspects, which will be sensitively incorporated into the architecture of the building, and will include multimedia and interactive elements. In addition to a thematic selection of rare items from the Jewish Museum’s collections, which will be placed in new arrangements and contexts, there will be touch screens for browsing through historical documents, photographs and artworks. Visitors will also be able to look up information in a database of prominent Jewish figures.
The new exhibition will require building alterations, including the construction of new technological and visitor facilities and barrier-free access. The planned revitalization of the synagogue and its exhibition was preceded by curatorial and technical preparations in 2017-2018. The framework concept for the new permanent exhibition was devised by Arno Pařík, and the individual topics have been further elaborated by the Jewish Museum’s research staff, partly with the help of external experts. The architectural design for the project has been prepared by the architectural firm Petr Franta architekti s.r.o., which is also the general planner for the project.
The Spanish Synagogue was built in 1868 for the local Reform congregation on the site of the 12th-century Altschul (Old Shul). It is called “Spanish” because of its elaborate Moorish interior design, influenced by the Alhambra. The building was designed by Josef Niklas and Jan Bělský, the sumptuous interior (from 1882–83) by Antonín Baum and Bedřich Münzberger.
The Prague Jewish Museum is going through a process of overhauling its permanent exhibits, which are housed in former synagogues.
The aim, it states, is “to better reflect current trends in museum displays, to make full use of technical possibilities, and to meet visitor expectations, all while fully respecting the architectural integrity of the historical synagogues that house the exhibitions.”
It notes that the work on the Spanish Synagogue will be the fourth revitalization project in this process. Earlier work included the renovation of the Pinkas Synagogue (2018) and Maisel Synagogue (2015) and the opening of the Information and Reservation Centre (2014).
2 comments on “CZ: Prague’s Spanish Synagogue to close June 1 until late 2020 for repair and installation of a new permanent exhibit”
This is the most beautiful shul I have ever seen. Indeed, I felt like this must be what heaven looks like. Baruch HaShem!
shalom —- a beautiful tribute to yaweh