Jewish Italy in the World: Paris’s Italian Treasures

After five years, the #ItaliaEbraica project is being renewed and becomes Jewish Italy in the World.
Each month, we will explore a new museum and discover the paths that connect distant places with our “Jewish Italy.”
International Jewish museums will present an object or artwork from their collections online via Zoom that tells a story of Italy’s history.
The third meeting in the online series will take place on Thursday, January 15th at 6:30 pm (Italian time) and will feature the Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme (mahJ) in Paris.
The mahJ houses an exceptional collection of works and objects that testify to the richness of Italian Jewish culture from the late 15th to the 19th century, a collection that is constantly being enriched with new acquisitions. The collection was assembled in the mid-19th century by Isaac Strauss (1806–1888); it was presented at the Universal Exhibitions in Paris in 1878 and London in 1887, before being purchased—after his death—by Baroness Charlotte de Rothschild, donated to the French state, and exhibited at the Musée de Cluny.
The most important piece is undoubtedly the inlaid wooden Holy Ark donated to the Modena synagogue in 1472, but the collection also includes numerous illuminated manuscripts; a prayer book produced in Ferrara in 1516, marriage contracts (ketubbot) and the Book of Esther (the megillah), bronze Hanukkah lamps, embroidered textiles, paintings, and more.
While it is impossible to present the entire collection, this lecture will highlight the diversity of this collection through a selection of its most representative pieces.

Greetings from Amedeo Spagnoletto – Director of the MEIS
Speaker: Claire Decomps – Curator and Head of Heritage, responsible for the conservation of the historical and Jewish collections – Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme

The meeting will be held in French with simultaneous translation into Italian.
If you would like to participate, click HERE and fill out the form!
The access link will be sent before the event begins.