Jewish Heritage Europe

Calendar

Sep
12
Tue
Spain: Jewish Archaeology @ Aula Magna. Edificio Universitario San Pedro Mártir - Madre de Dios
Sep 12 – Sep 13 all-day
Spain: Jewish Archaeology @ Aula Magna. Edificio Universitario San Pedro Mártir - Madre de Dios | Toledo | Castilla-La Mancha | Spain

An international conference/workshop on: “Toledo in the management of the New Jewish Archaeology in Europe”.

Organised by the Sephardic Museum in Toledo, the conference falls within a research project that has among its tasks the dissemination of the important archaeological findings that have been produced in recent years in the area of ​​the Jewish quarter of Toledo, in addition to highlighting the city and the Spanish-Jewish and Sephardic heritage, nationally and internationally. The objective of the conference will be “not only to create a scientific space for the exchange of academic news at a local, national and European level, but also to highlight the singular and unique value of the city of Toledo within the archaeological map of Jewish heritage in Spain.”

Click here to see the program

Jewish or Common Heritage? (Dis-) appropriation of Synagogue Architecture in East-Central Europe since 1945
Sep 12 @ 18:00 – Sep 14 @ 16:30
Jewish or Common Heritage?  (Dis-) appropriation of Synagogue Architecture in East-Central Europe since 1945

The conference starts on the 12th of September at 18:00 at German Historical Institute and ends on the 14th of September at 16:30 in POLIN – Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

The synagogues that remained standing after World War II have facedan uncertain destiny. As abandoned buildings,they were susceptible to decay quickly and, as former buildings of worship, for legal, cultural and architectural reasons, posed a great challenge in terms of their reuse. Consequently, many synagogues simply fell into ruins, some were turned into secular buildings of various purposes, and few could have been used as houses of prayer again. 

In postwar Europe, synagogue architecture was culturally categorized as an element of Jewish heritage that appeared to be isolated from the common heritage of a city or town – wherever a synagogue stood.

At first, synagogues were not considered a shared but a distinct patrimony of a place. A shift in such a state of affairs could have been observed in the last three decades that witnessed a ‘rediscovery’ of synagogues. Though one can still find abandoned synagogues in small towns, in most of the bigger municipalities, these buildings were ‘rediscovered as a part of local history and culture and thus became part of the common heritage. In many regions of Europe, the ‘rediscovery’ of the former synagogues led to their restoration and opening to the public, and in rare cases, to their reuse by Jewish communities.

The aim of the conference is a historicization of the processes of rediscovery in the recent past.

 

Oct
9
Mon
Eleventh Annual Conference of the Society for Sephardic Studies @ several synagogues
Oct 9 – Oct 13 all-day
Eleventh Annual Conference of the Society for Sephardic Studies @ several synagogues | İzmir | Türkiye

The Conference will focus on Sephardic Jews, between Messianism and Modernity

The conference gathers some 70 international  researchers of Sephardic social, cultural, and art history, languages, and literature from before and after the Expulsion of 1492.

There will be papers on Jewish, Christian, and Muslim attitudes toward Jewish messianism as reflected in the scholars’ particular areas of interest. In addition, the Conference will focus on the overlooked Sephardic embracement of modernity and Virtual Sepharad’s gradual yet unwavering secularization, whether in the expanse’s south—the ex-Ottoman realms—or its northern extremities – Holland, England, and the Americas.

 

Oct
19
Thu
Jewish Cultural Heritage: Practices, Perspectives, Challenges @ Polin museum
Oct 19 – Oct 20 all-day
Jewish Cultural Heritage: Practices, Perspectives, Challenges @ Polin museum | Warszawa | Mazowieckie | Poland

Conference on the role of Jewish culture and history in contemporary Europe.

The congress’ program consists of sessions, discussions and workshops aimed at exchanging good practices, discussing perspectives and challenges related to the protection and popularization of Jewish cultural heritage. Below we present the framework program of the main panel.

Click here to see details and program

 

Architectures of the Soul @ Monastery of Batalha - Portugal
Oct 19 – Oct 21 all-day
Architectures of the Soul @ Monastery of Batalha - Portugal | Batalha | Leiria | Portugal

The 4th International Conference Architectures of the Soul aims at promoting the scientific study and discussion around the architecture and landscape connected to religious and spiritual practices, grounded on the experience of seclusion and solitude.

It’s not focussed on Jewish heritage, but many preservation and other issues are common to religious built heritage as a whole, and we hope that the program includes Jewish heritage, too.

The conference is structured around two main topics, in order to understand the historical and current values of these places and how they can shape the future, through a renewed knowledge and new ways of turning them culturally meaningful:  

1. History of religious experience;

2. Future of Religious Heritage. 

The conference aims to establish the platform for a multidisciplinary approach on the subject, gathering and crossing history, architecture, landscape architecture, cultural heritage, art history, computing science, among others. 

The conference will be hosted by the Monastery of Santa Maria da Vitória, in the municipality of Batalha. This is a former dominican monastery,  on the initiative of the Avis dinasty at the end of the 14th century. The complex is recognised as UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Nov
23
Thu
A journey between Islamic and Jewish Europe: Ruth Ellen Gruber and Tharik Hussain in conversation @ Palazzo Vendramin Grimani, Venice
Nov 23 @ 17:00 – 18:30
A journey between Islamic and Jewish Europe: Ruth Ellen Gruber and Tharik Hussain in conversation @ Palazzo Vendramin Grimani, Venice | Venezia | Veneto | Italy

JHE’s Ruth Ellen Gruber, the author of travel books and articles on Jewish heritage in Europe, will be in conversation — “A Journey between Islamic and Jewish Europe” — with the British Muslim writer Tharik Hussain, the author of travel literature on Islamic heritage in Europe, as part of a three day series of meetings called “Invitation to the Voyage.” The conversation will be led by Prof. Shaul Bassi.

The meetings are held in collaboration between the Fondazione dell’Albero d’Oro and the  Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, and on the occasion of the last days of the ‘Nicolò Manucci. the Marco Polo of India’ exhibition.

The venue is  the drawing room of Palazzo Vendramin Grimani.

The meetings will be open to the public, free of charge upon reservation.  Simultaneous translation into Italian will be available for each meeting.

Click here for full information and program and to reserve a place

 

Dec
11
Mon
When Memory Meets Dialogue – Role of Remembrance Sites and Contemporary Challenges. @ Oskar Schindlers enamel factory museum
Dec 11 – Dec 12 all-day
When Memory Meets Dialogue – Role of Remembrance Sites and Contemporary Challenges. @ Oskar Schindlers enamel factory museum | Kraków | Małopolskie | Poland

On December 11-12, the Liberation Route Europe Foundation is organizing a memory project conference titled “When Memory Meets Dialogue – Role of Remembrance Sites and Contemporary Challenges” in Krakow, Poland. This event, in partnership with Oscar Schindler’s Enamel Factory, a branch of the Museum of Krakow, is part of the EU-funded European Days of Jewish Culture (EDJC) 2023, coordinated by the AEPJ. 

The conference agenda encompasses sessions focusing on Jewish and WWII heritage. Discussions will revolve around memory transmission and the contemporary significance of remembrance sites. The primary goal is to offer a meaningful platform for idea exchange, nurture cross-cultural understanding, and stimulate international discourse on historical memory and contemporary challenges. As part of the programme, participants can also explore guided tours and historical city walks in Krakow. 

Click here to register

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

 

Jan
25
Thu
Between Knowledge Of The History Of Rhineland Judaism And The Heritage Of Synagogues: A Responsibility Of Alsace @ Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire (BNU), Strasbourg
Jan 25 @ 18:30 – 20:00
Between Knowledge Of The History Of Rhineland Judaism And The Heritage Of Synagogues: A Responsibility Of Alsace @ Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire (BNU), Strasbourg | Strasbourg | Grand Est | France

Lecture by Catherine Trautmann, president of the Maison du Judaïsme Rhénan association, will discuss how three associations — the Society for the Study of Judaism in Alsace-Lorraine, Les Routes du Judaïsme Rhénan and the Maison du Judaïsme Rhénan — have created a new Rhineland Judaism Center.

They hope  to pool their resources within the framework of joint projects.

This conference is an opportunity to publicly present this dynamic, inspired by the example of the German ShUM cities (Mainz, Worms and Speyer) and Erfurt, whose Jewish heritage from the Middle Ages has been included on the UNESCO world heritage roster.

Under discussion  will be  the responsibility of Alsace, which has the largest concentration of Jewish heritage sites in France, for the protection, enhancement and access to this heritage.

Click here to find a link to register

 

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.

 

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