Jewish Heritage Europe

France/Poland: a “Jewish house” in an open-air museum (skansen) in Alsace, France joins similar Jewish houses in the open-air museum in Sanok, Poland

The Ecomuseum of Alsace in Ungersheim — the largest open-air village museum (skansen) in France — has opened a new exhibit: a “Jewish house” aimed to evoke typical Jewish daily life in an Alsatian village in the years between World War … continue reading →

European Day(s) of Jewish Culture — coming up soon!

Get ready! The annual European Day(s) of Jewish Culture is coming up soon — it officially kicks off in less than two weeks, on Sunday September 5th — the day before Erev Rosh Hashanah.. However, as usual in several countries … continue reading →

Italy: Jewish heritage travel — new Jewish Heritage Route established in Italy’s Marche region

The Levantine ynagogue in Ancona during a European Day of Jewish Culture

Central Italy’s Marche Region now has an official Jewish Heritage Route that takes in 25 towns and cities around the region. The Marche Regional Council formally set it up with legislation passed unanimously on July 27. The route forms “a … continue reading →

Germany: UNESCO adds the ShUM cities — Worms, Speyer and Mainz — to its World Heritage list. All near each other on the Rhine river, they combined to form a major Jewish center in the middle ages.

Ancient gravestones in the Worms Jewish cemetery.

(JHE) — UNESCO, the UN’s cultural body, has added the Jewish heritage of the so-called “ShUM cities” —  Speyer, Mainz, and Worms — to its list of World Heritage sites. The three cities, all near each other on the Rhine … continue reading →

Poland: Remarkable chance discovery of a polychrome Aramaic prayer text in what appears to have been a pre-war Beit Midrash in a small Polish town

(JHE) — A fragment of a polychrome painting of a Kabbalistic text in Aramaic was discovered by chance under a layer of plaster in a public utility building in the town of Lipsko, in southeast Poland. Announcing the discovery on … continue reading →