The Architectural Dialogue between the St. Petersburg Jewish Community and the Tsarist Metropolis
In this lecture, Dr. Vladimir Levin will consider the uneasy relationship between the architectural oeuvre of the Jewish community and the capital city of the Russian Empire. Although concentrating on St. Petersburg, the talk will address questions and problems that many Jewish communities in European and American cities had to wrangle with. Every Jewish community that settled in a large or small city had to decide how to represent itself vis-à-vis that city, how prominent and visible should their representation should be; what are the ways to express Jewishness in the general cityscape and which means should be employed toward achieving this goal. The lecture will discuss how the Jews of St. Petersburg and their non-Jewish allies looked for a style that was best suited for marking their presence in the city, and how a unique convergence of architecture and manuscript illuminations was created to that end.
About the Speaker
Dr. Vladimir Levin is the Director of the Center for Jewish Art at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Born in St. Petersburg, he holds a Ph.D. from the Hebrew University. He authored From Revolution to War: Jewish Politics in Russia, 1907-1914 (in Hebrew, 2016) and co-edited Synagogues in Lithuania: A Catalogue (2010-2012). In 2017 he co-authored with Sergey Kravtsov the book Synagogue in Ukraine: Volhynia, and currently works on the book of Jewish heritage in Siberia with Anna Berezin. He also published 120 articles and essays about social and political aspects of modern Jewish history in Eastern Europe, synagogue architecture and ritual objects, Jewish religious Orthodoxy, Jewish-Muslim relations, Jews and Jewish politics in Lithuania, Russian architecture in the Holy Land, history of East-European Jewish communities etc.
Dr. Levin headed numerous research expeditions to documents synagogues and other monuments of Jewish material culture in eastern and central Europe and lead several research projects in the field of Jewish Art, the most important of which is the creation of the Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art – the world’s largest digital depository of Jewish heritage.
The Duomo & The Great Synagogue: An Evening of Italian Culture
An evening of Jewish and Florentine architecture, culture, music, and food.
• Informal talks about the history and architecture of two of Florence, Italy’s grandest and most iconic structures — the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral (the Duomo) and the Great Synagogue — by Ross King, author of the national bestseller Brunelleschi’s Dome, and noted scholar Professor Francesco Spagnolo, Curator of The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at UC Berkeley.
• Q&A session moderated by Gail Price, former Executive Director of The American Institute of Architects Santa Clara Valley Chapter.
•The San Jose Chamber players with Cantor Sharon Bernstein presenting both Jewish and Italian songs.
• Italian appetizers and ice cream.
The sixth Jewish cultural heritage conference in Slovakia was supposed to take place in the former Neolog synagogue in Trnava, now used as an art gallery. Instead, it will be an online webinar, with presentations and the announcement of the annual Eugen Bárkány prize for 2020.
See program:
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.
The annual conference on Jewish cultural heritage in Slovakia can be followed online at https://www.facebook.com/zidianaslovensku.
The annual Eugen Barkany prize will be awarded.
A special exhibit marking the 20th anniversary of the underground complex designed by the architect Martin Kvasnica containing remnants of Bratislava’s Old Jewish Cemetery, which was destroyed in 1944, — 23 graves surrounding the Chatam Sofer’s tomb.
Rabbi Moshe Schreiber, known as the Chatam Sofer (or Chasam Sofer), was a renowned rabbi and scholar who was born in Frankfurt am Main on 26 September 1762 (7 Tishrei 5523).
Open
Friday 10:00 – 16:00
Sunday 10:00 – 16:00
Dr. Pieter Vlaardingerbroek will present an illustrated talk live from Amsterdam on the architecture and interior of the 1675 Portuguese Synagogue (the Esnoga) in Amsterdam and the synagogue’s direct influence on the architecture of the 1763 Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island.
Pieter Vlaardingerbroek, Ph.D., is a leading expert on Dutch architecture and material culture. He is an architectural historian for the City of Amsterdam, having served in a similar position for the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. He is an Assistant Professor of Architectural History and Conservation at the University of Utrecht. Professor Vlaardingerbroek is the author of many articles and books and served as editor for the definitive volume on the Portuguese Sephardic synagogue, The Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam, published by the City of Amsterdam in 2013.
There is no fee to participate, but reservations are required to receive the Zoom login information.
The eighth annual conference dedicated to Jewish cultural heritage in Slovakia, including major projects and activities — and the people behind them.
This year, a focus will be the restoration of the synagogue in Trenčín, which is implemented with the support of the EHP Grant (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway) with co-financing from the state budget of the Slovak community and resources of the Jewish community.
The conference will be available online at https://www.facebook.com/zidianaslovensku and https://tachles.tv/
Program
The book “Slovak Synagogues on Old Postcards” will be launched in Bratislava.
The book includes more than 270 old postcards of Jewish places of worship.
Opposite each postcard is a brief history of the Jewish community and synagogue of a particular city or village.
The book is written in English and Slovak. Historical settlement names appear in both Hungarian and German.
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If you plan to attend the launch, please confirm your arrival to the contacts in the booking as the number of places is limited.
You can buy the publication directly on the spot, or ordered via the following email address:
jdesbook@gmail.com
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