Jewish Heritage Europe

Calendar

Jul
11
Sun
“House of Eternity” photo exhibition @ Synagogue in Hagenow
Jul 11 – Oct 17 all-day
"House of Eternity" photo exhibition @ Synagogue in Hagenow | Hagenow | Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | Germany

“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

 

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
3
Sun
“What’s New, What’s Next? Innovative Methods, New Sources, and Paradigm Shifts in Jewish Studies” @ Online conference
Oct 3 – Oct 7 all-day
"What’s New, What’s Next? Innovative Methods, New Sources, and Paradigm Shifts in Jewish Studies" @ Online conference

An interdisciplinary online conference (on the Gridaly platform) that will bring together scholars in a wide range of fields: anthropology, sociology, history, memory studies, museology, art history, and political science, among others; organized by the POLIN museum in Warsaw.

It will explore new directions in the study of East and Central European Jews.

Several specific questions will be raised: What constitutes Jewish studies today and in which direction should we be heading? Which paradigms are guiding the field today? How are theoretical and methodological developments in the humanities and social sciences shaping Jewish studies? How are scholars working in a broad range of disciplines – history, social sciences, literature, visual and performing arts, and other disciplines – contributing to the field? What are interdisciplinary approaches contributing to the field? What is the impact of studies of Jewish life in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on a wider understanding of world history?

4 Keynotes

  • François Guesnet, “The Narcissism of Small Differences? Reflections on Jewish Studies and Jewish Area Studies”
  • Havi Dreifuss, “Beyond traditional methods: Five Thoughts of what is New and What is Next in Jewish Studies”
  • Marcin Wodziński, “What’s Next in Jewish Studies: Prospects and Challenges”
  • Gerben Zaagsma, “Exploring Jewish History in the Digital Age”

21 Panels

  • Theory 
  • Paradigms, methodologies, and sources 
  • Issues, emphases, and gaps 
  • Digital resources and methods
  • Ethics and politics
  • Academic and cultural institutions 
  • Legacies 

1 Poster session

  • PhD candidates will present methodological, theoretical, and source issues related to their dissertations. 

2 Roundtables

  • “Creating a Legacy: The Impact of Jewish Studies in Poland”
  • “The Future of Museum Architecture”
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
10
Sun
European Day of Jewish Culture in Italy @ All over
Oct 10 all-day
European Day of Jewish Culture in Italy @ All over | Italy

Italy marks the European Day of Jewish Culture — with events in scores of towns and cities around the country. There are also events scheduled later in the month.

The main centre this year is Padova.

Click here to see the full information and program by date

Click here to see the program listed by region

Zoymen 2021 @ Online
Oct 10 all-day
Zoymen 2021 @ Online

An online conference on two Sundays about Jewish identity and cultural heritage in Belarus, organized by TheTogether Plan within the context of the European Days of Jewish Culture. The Together Plan is engaged in various Jewish communal, heritage, and identity projects in Belarus, including organising a Jewish heritage route.

It calls Belarus “the unexplored and unknown root of modern day Ashkenazi Jewry.”

The conference “will be exploring hidden history, overcoming severe challenges and taking a look at modern day solutions.”

Click here to register, buy ticket, and see program

 

Oct
17
Sun
Zoymen 2021 @ Online
Oct 17 all-day
Zoymen 2021 @ Online

An online conference on two Sundays about Jewish identity and cultural heritage in Belarus, organized by TheTogether Plan within the context of the European Days of Jewish Culture. The Together Plan is engaged in various Jewish communal, heritage, and identity projects in Belarus, including organising a Jewish heritage route.

It calls Belarus “the unexplored and unknown root of modern day Ashkenazi Jewry.”

The conference “will be exploring hidden history, overcoming severe challenges and taking a look at modern day solutions.”

Click here to register, buy ticket, and see program

 

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.

Oct
19
Tue
Jewish Heritage in Bratislava Region @ BSK office
Oct 19 all-day
Jewish Heritage in Bratislava Region @ BSK office | Bratislavský kraj | Slovakia

Organised by the Bratislava Regional administration, the conference will mark recent developments and future plans regarding Jewish heritage in the Bratislava region, including the restoration of the synagogue in Senec and plans to restore the synagogue in Svaty Jur.

Topics will include:

  • The importance of Slovak monuments in Europe
  • Plans for the abandoned synagogues and cemeteries
  • The story of the synagogue in Senec
  • The monumental value of the synagogue in Svätý Jur
  • Symbolism of tombstones in Jewish cemeteries

Click here to see the full program

 

The  conference is organized by the Bratislava self-governing region on the occasion of 2021 European Cultural Heritage Days, with input from the SNM – Museum of Jewish Culture,  the Academia Istropolitana Nova, the Monuments Office of the Slovak Republic and the Municipal Office for the Protection of Monuments in Bratislava.

 

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