Calendar

A wide-ranging conference organized by the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research, the German Historical Institute in Paris and the Museum of Art and History of Judaism, 12 years after an earlier conference on “Archaeology of Judaism in France and Europe.”

Experts will evaluate of the progress of archaeological research on European Judaism from antiquity to the 20th century, reporting on the most recent significant discoveries across the continent.

The symposium will offer summaries and case studies on places of worship (synagogues, ritual baths, etc.), the topography of medieval Jewry and modern ghettos, funerary spaces, sites of the Shoah, new methodological approaches and the heritage of the sites studied.

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A series of events in  November and December celebrate the 140th anniversary of the Grande Synagogue. The series kicks off  November  9 with an official ceremony.

See the program below:

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.”

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Presenting a selection of nearly 150 pieces from various sources, this photographic exhibition recreates the history of Salonika (today Thessaloniki) Greece from the second half of the 19th century to the end of the First World War. Men and women are captured in their traditional costumes: modest artisans, porters, traders, members of the local “aristocracy;” society is revealed. Urban modernization is also shown: the quays and the White Tower, cafes, restaurants and entertainment venues; the Countryside sector where the notables established their residence; deprived areas, where emerging industries were established.

But also, in the now Greek city, the great fire of August 1917, an authentic trauma for the Jews who saw their historic neighborhoods, the municipal archives and more than thirty synagogues swept away by the flames, before the geopolitical upheavals caused by the First War worldwide.

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.