Jewish Heritage Europe

Calendar

Sep
4
Mon
Bulgaria: Vidin synagogue rededication @ Vidin synagogue
Sep 4 @ 14:00 – 16:00
Bulgaria: Vidin synagogue rededication @ Vidin synagogue | Vidin | Vidin | Bulgaria

The restoration of the long-ruined synagogue in Vidin, Bulgaria, a historic town overlooking the Danube, has been completed and the building will be rededicated Sept. 4. 

The long-stalled, long-awaited restoration of the long-derelict synagogue in Vidin begun in 2021 after many delays. The building will become a multipurpose cultural center dedicated to the Vidin-born Jewish artist Jules Pascin, to include a museum, library, meeting hall, park area, and spaces for prayer and for the commemoration of the Holocaust.

Photo: Svetoslav Tsvetanov/Radio Vidin

Oct
26
Thu
A Sacred Space: Synagogue Architecture and Identity – opening event @ JTS Library, New York
Oct 26 @ 17:30 – 19:00
A Sacred Space: Synagogue Architecture and Identity - opening event @ JTS Library, New York | New York | New York | United States

The opening event of an exhibition that runs until March 7, 2024 — a large selection of rare prints depicting historic synagogues,  co-curated by Samuel D. Gruber and Sharon Liberman Mintz.

The event features a lecture by Samuel D. Gruber: “The Image of the Synagogue in Prints: Architecture and Identity.”

The 42 prints on view—selected from books, art prints, magazines, and newspapers—showcase a wide range of synagogue types. Notably, the pace of production of these images accelerated in the 19th century, when we first encounter Jewish architects of synagogues, along with the Jewish artists who depicted them.

The exhibit will feature images of synagogues from the Netherlands, England, France, Austria, and Germany, ending on American shores. 

 

Jan
23
Tue
“Religious Heritage and Minority Communities” @ online and Centre for Religion and Heritage of the University of Groningen
Jan 23 @ 13:15 – 18:15
“Religious Heritage and Minority  Communities” @ online and Centre for Religion and Heritage of the University of Groningen

The Centre for Religion and Heritage of the University of Groningen will host a half-day public symposium to launch the Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Heritage in Contemporary Europe. This event will also inaugurate a new European project on minority religious heritage.

The event takes place in person and also online.  Click HERE to register

The organizers state:

The Handbook provides a state-of-the-art guide by leading international scholars, policy makers and heritage practitioners. With 46 chapters, we cannot address all the contributions, thus we have chosen to concentrate on those which examine how religious communities are using their rich heritage to make new meanings for themselves in Europe. Our focus will be on Jewish, Muslim and Christian heritage. We want to think together about the challenges facing these communities, as they grapple with being Jewish or Muslim minorities in a historically Christian landscape, or with being a minority of practicing Christians in the highly secularized society, such as that of Northern Netherlands. Reflecting on these questions together with our Handbook authors will aid the start of a new project in the Erasmus Plus program called European Pathways to Minority Religious Heritage (Miretage). Over three years we are exploring how minority religious heritage can be taught as a co-creative activity between heritage institutions, creative organizations and minority communities. On hand to participate in the symposium are partners from Storytelling Center Amsterdam, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Moslim Archief Rotterdam, KU Leuven, Future for Religious

Click here to see the program for the January 23 event

 

Feb
12
Mon
Dutch National Holocaust Museum Opening @ National Holocaust Museum, Amsterdam
Feb 12 all-day
Dutch National Holocaust Museum Opening @ National Holocaust Museum, Amsterdam | Amsterdam | Noord-Holland | Netherlands

The new Dutch National Holocaust Museum will be officially opened March 10  by King Willem-Alexander at a ceremony attended by the prime minister and other VIPs. The king will also give a speech at a gathering in the nearby Portuguese Synagogue.

The museum then opens to the public on March 11, from 10 am-5 pm  (almost) daily.

The museum tells the story of the Nazi persecution and murder of the Jews of the Netherlands. 

This is the first and only museum to relate the history of the persecution of the Jews of the entire Netherlands. Including the day-to-day life of Jews on the eve of the Second World War, the liberation as Jews experienced it, and how the Holocaust has been treated in our national culture of remembrance: all this is examined in the museum.

The Museum is part of the Jewish Cultural Quarter in Amsterdam. Germany and Austria have contributed financially to the establishment of the museum.

(Photo: © Thijs Wolzak/National Holocaust Museum)

Feb
18
Sun
Open Day Merthyr Tydfil @ Theatre Soar, Merthyr Tydfil
Feb 18 @ 10:00 – 15:30
Open Day Merthyr Tydfil @ Theatre Soar, Merthyr Tydfil | Wales | United Kingdom

Open Day to share plans for Welsh Jewish Heritage Centre in Merthyr Tydfil.

The public is invited to explore Merthyr Tydfil’s historic synagogue and help shape plans to create a Welsh Jewish Heritage Centre.

There will be tours of the synagogue throughout the day, along with music from a Welsh klezmer band and a talk on the history of Merthyr’s once-thriving
Jewish community.

The project team will be on hand to find out what local people think of the plans for the future of the building, and record their memories of its past life.

Merthyr Tydfil Synagogue was built in the 1870s and is the oldest purpose-built synagogue surviving in Wales. After the congregation left in 1983, its condition deteriorated. The Foundation for Jewish Heritage purchased it in 2019 and the Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, visited in 2021. The following year, the Foundation secured funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Welsh government and Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council to develop the plans.

 

Feb
21
Wed
House of the World to Come: Immortal Jewish Cemeteries @ Parobrod Galeria, Belgrade
Feb 21 – Mar 7 all-day

Photo exhibition by Rudolf Klein, author of the book Metropolitan Jewish Cemeteries — which will be presented at the opening.

The opening takes place February 21, at 7 p.m.

There will be speeches by Klein and others.

Mar
10
Sun
Dutch National Holocaust Museum Opening @ National Holocaust Museum, Amsterdam
Mar 10 all-day
Dutch National Holocaust Museum Opening @ National Holocaust Museum, Amsterdam | Amsterdam | Noord-Holland | Netherlands

The new Dutch National Holocaust Museum will be officially opened March 10  by King Willem-Alexander at a ceremony attended by the prime minister and other VIPs. The king will also give a speech at a gathering in the nearby Portuguese Synagogue.

The museum then opens to the public on March 11, from 10 am-5 pm  (almost) daily.

The museum tells the story of the Nazi persecution and murder of the Jews of the Netherlands. 

This is the first and only museum to relate the history of the persecution of the Jews of the entire Netherlands. Including the day-to-day life of Jews on the eve of the Second World War, the liberation as Jews experienced it, and how the Holocaust has been treated in our national culture of remembrance: all this is examined in the museum.

The Museum is part of the Jewish Cultural Quarter in Amsterdam. Germany and Austria have contributed financially to the establishment of the museum.

(Photo: © Thijs Wolzak/National Holocaust Museum)

Mar
17
Sun
Jewish cemetery clean up @ Jewish cemetery Přistoupim, Czech Republic
Mar 17 @ 09:00 – 12:00

Jewish cemetery clean-up, organised by the oPŘISe, z. s. NGO

Work will entail removal of ivy from gravestones and other necessary activities. Bring your own tools (sickles, scissors, machetes). Men need to wear head covering. Refreshments will be provided. 

 

Mar
19
Tue
Official Opening of the restored Žatec Synagogue as a cultural space @ Synagogue in Zatec
Mar 19 @ 16:00
Official Opening of the restored Žatec Synagogue as a cultural space @ Synagogue in Zatec | Ústecký kraj | Czechia

After many decades, the synagogue and rabbinical house in Žatec will be ceremonially opened. Both monuments have undergone complete reconstruction in recent years and will now serve as a museum and cultural space.

The celebrations will include performances by the Žatec Occasional Choir and the Camerata children’s choir at the ZUŠ in Žatec.

Long empty and in deteriorating condition, the synagogue and rabbi’s house were bought in 2013 by  Daniel Černý, who from 2019 oversaw a full-scale renovation of the buildings that was completed in 2022. Most of the €2 million costs of the project were covered with grants from the state and the EU.

The rescue and restoration of the synagogue won the Patrimonium pro futuro Award in the Monument Protection category. 

NOTE: The  program on March 22 will begin at 5 p.m.

 

Mar
22
Fri
Official Opening of the restored Žatec Synagogue as a cultural space @ Synagogue in Zatec
Mar 22 @ 16:00
Official Opening of the restored Žatec Synagogue as a cultural space @ Synagogue in Zatec | Ústecký kraj | Czechia

After many decades, the synagogue and rabbinical house in Žatec will be ceremonially opened. Both monuments have undergone complete reconstruction in recent years and will now serve as a museum and cultural space.

The celebrations will include performances by the Žatec Occasional Choir and the Camerata children’s choir at the ZUŠ in Žatec.

Long empty and in deteriorating condition, the synagogue and rabbi’s house were bought in 2013 by  Daniel Černý, who from 2019 oversaw a full-scale renovation of the buildings that was completed in 2022. Most of the €2 million costs of the project were covered with grants from the state and the EU.

The rescue and restoration of the synagogue won the Patrimonium pro futuro Award in the Monument Protection category. 

NOTE: The  program on March 22 will begin at 5 p.m.

 

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