The opening of an exhibition of virtual reconstructions of synagogues destroyed by the Nazis.
It is mounted at the the NS Documentation Center in cooperation with the Technical University of Darmstadt.
The exhibition “Synagogues in Germany – A Virtual Reconstruction” runs from from June 11th to September 19th.
The TU Darmstadt has been working on the virtual reconstruction of synagogues that were destroyed in Germany for 25 years. The initial spark for this long-term project was the attack by neo-Nazis on the synagogue in Lübeck in 1994. In 2019, an attack was carried out on the synagogue there in Halle. With this project, the TU Darmstadt shows the cultural loss, the importance of synagogues in the cityscape and the beauty of the architecture.
The exhibition also shows synagogues that were built in Germany after 1945.
The tiny former synagogue in the village of Gleusdorf, out of use for more than a century, opens as an information center about local rural Jewish life and history.
The inauguration ceremony will be a closed event for invited guests because of COVID restrictions.
The synagogue has been owned since 2016 by the Untermerzbach municipality, which sponsored and oversaw the €174,000 project. Funding included a €87,500 grant from the EU’s LEADER funding program for the development of the rural economy.
The synagogue will be operated in cooperation with the Friends of the Synagogue association in nearby Memmelsdorf, and the preservation concept accords with that of the Memmelsdorf synagogue –“conservation instead of reconstruction” — that is, not to reconstruct or restore the building, but to conserve it in a way that shows the history of what it has gone through.
Click to read our article about the restoration and project
“House of Eternity: Jewish cemeteries in the Central European cultural area 2004–2021.”
A photo documentation by Berlin-based Marcel-Th. and Klaus Jacobs.
The 45 black and white photos in the exhibition, featuring Jewish cemeteries in Germany, Poland, Ukraine, and Czech Republic, were taken with an analog Leica camera.
The exhibition was made possible by donations from the Circle of Friends for the Preservation of the Jewish Cemeteries in Central Europe.
Further information abut the project is available at: www.jüdische-friedhöfe.de
The former synagogue in Görlitz reopens after around 30 years of gradual renovation as the “Kulturforum Görlitz Synagogue.”
The Görlitz synagogue is the only community synagogue in saxony that survived Kristallnacht in 1938.
According to the city administration, the total cost of the renovation was 12.6 million euros.
The opening had been postponed several times due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
An exhibition presenting the construction history of the Szeged New Synagogue. The opening event is at 16:30 on August 25 (see the picture for the program).
The Hungarian Museum of Architecture and Monument Protection Documentation Center (MÉM MDK), in cooperation with the Jewish Community of Szeged and the Holocaust Memorial Center, is commemorating Lipót Baumhorn and the 120 year-old synagogue in Szeged with an exhibition.
The exhibition on the ground floor of the Páva Street Synagogue, which is part of the Holocaust Memorial Center, focuses on the New Synagogue in Szeged, built between 1900 and 1903. In addition to the construction plans and the documents on the building created at the time of its construction, the sacred textiles made for the inauguration of the synagogue, including the Torah Ark curtain (parochet) and the Torah mantel will also be on display. The Jewish Community of Szeged has had the richly embroidered silk objects restored for this occasion.
Besides these objects, rich photographic material also illustrates the oeuvre of Lipót Baumhorn, who was born 160 years ago. The exhibits will not only present the twenty-six synagogues he designed, but visitors will also be able to see examples of his secular architectural work, as interpreted by the photographer Krisztina Bélavári. The synagogue that houses the exhibition was also designed by Lipót Baumhorn, so he is being commemorated in a worthy setting.
Curator: Ágnes Ivett Oszkó, Ph.D., art historian of the Hungarian Museum of Architecture and Monument Protection Documentation Center
Director of the restoration project for the Jewish Community of Szeged: Dóra Pataricza, Ph.D., historian
Professional consultants: Vera Ábrahám, head of the Archives of the Szeged Jewish Community; Dr. Rudolf Klein, Head of Department, University of Óbuda Ybl Miklós Faculty of Architecture; Pál Ritoók, art historian, head of the Museum Department of the Hungarian Museum of Architecture and Monument Protection Documentation Center
Exhibition: Let Them Make Me a Sanctuary! Synagogues of Hungarian Communities
The exhibition introduces the sacral architecture of the Hungarian Jewry by presenting individual synagogue buildings. The authors have selected works spanning nearly a millennium in order to present the characteristics of synagogue architecture, the communities that built them and their history. After the medieval synagogues of Sopron, the baroque synagogues of Mád and the neoclassical synagogues of Óbuda, the synagogues of Pest, the jewels of romantic architecture, will also be presented. These buildings, together with the domed synagogues built at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries (Győr, Oradea, Szeged, Subotica, Novi Sad), were important milestones in the emancipation of the Jews. The sacral buildings of the Jewish community of Kassa (Kosice), which were built to complement the Slovakian stops in the exhibition, are also shown on separate tables, and are gems of Romantic and 20th century modern architecture.
Visit only on reservation: 32 2 209 0750 / info@bmki.be
The exhibition is a joint project of the Hungarian Academy of Arts and the Hungarian Museum of Architecture and Documentation Centre for Historic Monument Protection.
Curator: dr. Ágnes Ivett Oszkó, art historian, MÉM MDK
Project Manager: Ágnes Komlóssy, Head of the International and Transnational Affairs Department of the MMA
A gathering of Lithuanian Jews and descendants, which includes an academic conference, a cultural fest, guided tours to Jewish heritage in several towns and cities around the country — Vilnius, Kaunas, Panevėžys, Šeduva, Pakruojis — and more.
Click here to see the full program
Pre-registration is required by filling out the following form:
The long-derelict 19th century synagogue in Kőszeg, western Hungary, is reopening to the public after a full-scale renovation that took place over the past two years. The synagogue, which is owned by the state, will become a cultural centre but also will be able to be used for religious services.
JHE’s Ruth Ellen Gruber is on the program of its first public event, Sunday August 28-29 — the opening of an exhibition about Philip (Fülöp) Schey (1798-1881), a Jewish philanthropist born in Kőszeg (known in German as Güns), who had grown rich as a textile merchant and later became a banker for the Hapsburgs. In 1859, Emperor Franz Joseph raised Schey to the Hungarian nobility — he was the first Jew to receive this honor and took the title Philip Schey von Koromla.
The exhibit is called “A Kőszeg Success Story: the Schey Family,” and it presents Philip Schey’s family, life and work: his economic and philanthropic activities, as well as his founding of institutions.
It begins at 3 p.m. and is organized by iAsk — the Institute of Advanced Studies in Kőszeg, which has played a role in the restoration of the building.
The opening is part of a two-day series of events, “Synagogue Week in Kőszeg,” including concerts, lectures, guided tours, and book presentations.
The second Jewish Culture Festival to be held in Klaipeda programs a series of concerts and lectures, and also events anchored by the sites of the built heritage of the Jews of Klaipeda (historically Memel).
These include a “Sound walk in the footsteps of the disappeared synagogues of Klaipėda” on September 24, and guided tours of Jewish Klaipeda in the first week of October.
The 24th Budapest Jewish Cultural Festival features a variety of concerts and some other events, and will take place in seven venues — including four synagogues. It is organic iced by the Budapest Jewish community in cooperation with the MAZSIHISZ Jewish umbrella organization.
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