Jewish Heritage Europe

Belgium: Antwerp’s “Dutch Synagogue” is open again after a five-year full restoration

Antwerp’s  monumental so-called “Dutch Synagogue” (Hollandse Synagoge) reopened this summer after a full-scale restoration that began in 2017. It will be used to serve its congregation, but also may be developed for tourism.   Designed by Joseph Hertogs and inaugurated … continue reading →

Czech Republic: the Prague Jewish Museum reports a stark operational crisis due to impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and skyrocketing costs. Last year visitors were down around 80 percent from 2019

In its current Newsletter, the Prague Jewish Museum presents a stark summation of how the COVID-19 pandemic, and now the war in Ukraine and associated economic and energy crisis have affected the Museum and its operation. With visitors in 2021 … continue reading →

Czech Republic Update: Monument made of gravestones cut into cobbles and used for paving is under construction

September 7 will see the unveiling of a new memorial constructed of hundreds of rescued Jewish gravestone fragments that had been cut into cobblestones during the communist era and used to pave a major pedestrian plaza in downtown Prague. The … continue reading →

Ukraine: The Jewish Galicia and Bukovina Organization has created a virtual gallery of the destroyed Old Jewish Cemetery in Lviv, with photos and transcriptions of epitaphs from dozens of matzevot

  Researchers of the Jewish Galicia and Bukovina Organization have created a partial virtual reconstruction of the destroyed Old Jewish Cemetery in Lviv — creating an online gallery of historical photographs from the cemetery and detailed documentation of more than … continue reading →

Ukraine: Holocaust memorial at Drobytsky Yar near Kharkiv damaged by shelling

Russian artillery fire damaged a large Menorah sculpture that was part of the Drobytsky Yar Holocaust Memorial Park and Museum on the eastern outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials and others reported. The memorial complex, opened in 2002, commemorates some 15,000 … continue reading →