Jewish Museum of Venice
The Jewish Museum of Venice is located in Campo del Ghetto, between Venice’s two oldest synagogues. Although small, it boasts a vast collection of exhibits.
The exhibition features a number of gold and textile products from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries.
The first hall contains silverware, textiles, garments and paraments, parchments and lamps used during the main Jewish festivals, such as silverware for Shabbat, nine-branch candelabras that are lit in homes to celebrate Chanukah, the Meghillat Ester, i.e. the parchment that tells of the joyful celebration at the end of winter, or the large tray that commemorates Pesach, the liberation of the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery.
The museum’s first hall places great importance on the Sefer Torah, otherwise known as the Scroll of the Law. It is a parchment manuscript that bears the transcription of the Pentateuch and is accompanied by a series of items and accessories used for its storage, exhibition and to facilitate its reading, such as the wonderful wrought silver pointers used to scroll through the dense text.
The second hall is primarily dedicated to textile production and also provides interesting examples of how the most important life events – such as birth, marriage and death - are celebrated in Jewish tradition.
It is recommended that a guided tour be booked for visits to the ghetto and the synagogues.
Museo Ebraico di Venezia
Sestiere Cannaregio, 1146
30121 Venice - Italy
Tel. +39 041 5241862
www.museoebraico.it
