Jewish Heritage Europe

Calendar

Aug
25
Wed
Architecture of Devotion – The Plans of Lipót Baumhorn for the Szeged New Synagogue @ Pava utca synagogue
Aug 25 2021 @ 16:30 – Jan 20 2022 @ 16:30

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.

Baumhorn letter with drawing of Szeged synagogue. Photo: Szeged Jewish community/Rediscover

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.

New Synagogue, Szeged

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

Oct
7
Thu
Judaica in open-air museums conference; official opening of replica of wooden synagogue of Połaniec @ Ethnographic Museum in Sanok, Poland
Oct 7 – Oct 8 all-day
Judaica in open-air museums conference; official opening of replica of wooden synagogue of Połaniec @ Ethnographic Museum in Sanok, Poland | Sanok | Podkarpackie | Poland

The full-scale replica of the wooden synagogue of Połaniec one of the hundreds of East European wooden synagogues destroyed during WW2, will be formally opened — it has been installed at Poland’s largest open-air ethnographic museum, or skansen, the Folk Architecture Museum in Sanok, in the far southeast corner of Poland.

Click here to see our September 13 article and photos about the synagogue and replica.

The two-day opening event includes the inauguration on-site on October 7, plus an excursion to the masonry synagogue and historic Jewish cemetery in nearby Lesko.

The day-long conference takes place October 8, at another location in Sanok, the Jan Grodek State Vocational Academy —  ul. Mickiewicza 21.

Click here to see the full program

Future of museum architecture @ Online
Oct 7 @ 18:00 – 19:30
Future of museum architecture @ Online

An online discussion with featuring architects Rainer Mahlamaki, Jakub Szczesny, and Andrzej Bulanda. Moderated by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett.

This panel will explore the challenges, successes, and failures of museum architecture, with a focus on Jewish and Holocaust museums.
 What are the challenges of designing buildings for Jewish museums? For Holocaust museums? To what extent do such projects rely on conventional metaphors? How do you address these questions in your practice?
 
 How has contemporary museum architecture evolved? To what extent are these developments reflected in the design of Jewish and Holocaust museums?
 
 Why do museum commissions offer opportunities for architects to experiment? Do museums represent their best work?
 
 What accounts for the museum boom in the last two decades? Will it last? Should it last?
 
 What might museums look like in the near future in light of our changing world? Which trends are waning? Which are emerging? What are their implications for the design of Jewish and Holocaust museums?
This panel is part of the online conference WHAT’S NEW? WHAT’S NEXT? INNOVATIVE METHODS, NEW SOURCES, AND PARADIGM SHIFTS IN JEWISH STUDIES at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. You will find the full conference program here. https://polin.gridaly.com/info.

Registration at https://polin.gridaly.com/info

Oct
18
Mon
A World Beyond: Jewish Cemeteries in Turkey 1583-1990 @ online
Oct 18 @ 16:00 – 19:30
A World Beyond: Jewish Cemeteries in Turkey 1583-1990 @ online

An international conference to officially launch the massive website and digital database of Jewish cemeteries in Turkey, A World Beyond: Jewish Cemeteries in Turkey 1583-1990.  

The database and web site are a project of the The Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center of Tel Aviv University. We wrote about it when it first went online last year as a beta version — though the site still says it’s in beta, the kinks that some users experienced appear to have been worked out, and we find it easy to search and use. 

Dedicated to the memory of  the oriental studies scholar Bernard Lewis, who died in 2018, the database is the culmination of decades of research by Prof. Minna Rozen (and others) and comprises digital images and detailed textual content of more than 61,000 Jewish gravestones from a variety of communities in Turkey from 1583 until 1990. Rozen’s onsite documentation of the cemeteries was carried out in 1988-1990. The material was digitized in the 1990s but until the web site was uploaded, it had not been publicly accessible.

Nov
22
Mon
Synagogues: Historic Buildings – on their cultural and educational potential @ online
Nov 22 @ 19:00 – 20:00
Synagogues: Historic Buildings – on their cultural and educational potential @ online

A conversation with Helise Lieberman (Executive Director of the Taube Center for Jewish Life & Learning Foundation ) and Dr. Glenn Kurtz (author of Three Minutes in Poland: Discovering a Lost World in a 1938 Family Film). 

The Webinar is part of the Synagogues in Poland project of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland.

 

 

Register here — https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_7lcg5DifQNWwuVVd2gXKLQ

 

 

Dec
7
Tue
Webinar – preservation, prospects, challenges, approaches to Jewish heritage @ online
Dec 7 @ 19:00 – 20:00
Webinar - preservation, prospects, challenges, approaches to Jewish heritage @ online

Join JHE’s Ruth Ellen Gruber; the architect, artist and designer, Natalia Romik; the director of the Okopowa Jewish cemetery in Warsaw, Witold Wrzosiński; and the CEO of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODZ) Piotr Puchta for a wide-ranging Webinar centering on Jewish heritage preservation, future prospects, challenges, and possible approaches.

This Webinar is the third and final Webinar in a series that has been part of the project “Virtual Connections to Material Jewish Heritage in Poland” carried out by FODZ,  aimed at fostering public awareness of synagogues, cemeteries and other Jewish built heritage via digital models and detailed virtual tours of selected buildings.

Please register for the webinar here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/…/reg…/WN_YsMCMndzQ1SbllwVPi0X_A

Click to access the project web site and the virtual tours of selected Jewish historical sites in Kraśnik, Łęczna, ŁancutOlsztyn, OrlaPrzysucha, Sejny, and Zamość

 

Mar
31
Thu
Hideouts. The Architecture of Survival @ Zacheta gallery Warsaw
Mar 31 @ 18:00 – 19:00
Hideouts. The Architecture of Survival @ Zacheta gallery Warsaw | Warszawa | Mazowieckie | Poland

Opening of the exhibition Hideouts. The Architecture of Survival — showcasing the work of the architect, artist, and researcher Natalia Romik about the places where Jews hid during the Holocaust.

The exhibition will run until July 17, Tuesday-Sunday, 12-8 pm.

 

Apr
7
Thu
“Secrets of the Land” opening @ Regional Museum Chrudim, Czech Republic
Apr 7 @ 17:00 – 19:30
"Secrets of the Land" opening @ Regional Museum Chrudim, Czech Republic | Chrudim | Pardubický kraj | Czechia

Opening of an exhibition (running April 7-June 30, 2022) of objects found in the genizas in former synagogues in eastern Bohemia, with a particular focus on the synagogue in Luze.

The exhibition grows out of a geniza research project initiated by the Prague Jewish Museum in the 1990s.

 

Apr
10
Sun
Reopening Plzen Great Synagogue @ Great Synagogu, Plzen
Apr 10 @ 17:00 – 20:00
Reopening Plzen Great Synagogue @ Great Synagogu, Plzen | Plzeňský kraj | Czechia

The official reopening ceremony of the Great synagogue in Plzen, Czech Republic, following  a three-year restoration of the synagogue interior and nearby Rabbi’s house. A permanent exhibition on Jewish monuments in the Pilsen region will be opened, in the women’s gallery. It is based on the photographs of Radovan Kodera.

A procession  will bring a Torah scroll  from the Old to the Great Synagogue and ceremoniously place it in the ark.

Following will be a ceremonial program with speeches by the Culture Minister, the head of the tiny local Jewish community, and others. A concert will feature compositions inspired by Jewish prayers, adapted for the occasion. 

 

 

 

Apr
26
Tue
Reopening of the Kobersdorf Synagogue @ Kobersdorf Synagogue
Apr 26 all-day
Reopening of the Kobersdorf Synagogue @ Kobersdorf Synagogue | Kobersdorf | Burgenland | Austria

The Synagogue in Kobersdorf reopens after a three-year restoration process. It will be a cultural and educational centre, with a focus on local Jewish history and heritage.

 

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