Jewish Museum London

Last updated

Jewish Museum London
Logo of The Jewish Museum London.gif
Jewish Museum London.jpg
Exterior of the Jewish Museum at Raymond Burton House
Camden London UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within London Borough of Camden
LocationRaymond Burton House
129–131 Albert Street
London, NW1
United Kingdom
Coordinates 51°32′13″N0°08′40″W / 51.536944°N 0.144444°W / 51.536944; -0.144444
DirectorSue Shave (acting)
Public transit access Underground no-text.svg Camden Town
Website Jewish Museum London
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameNumbers 123–139 and attached railings
Designated14 May 1974
Reference no. 1378643

The Jewish Museum London was a museum of British Jewish life, history and identity. The museum was situated in Camden Town in the London Borough of Camden, north London. It was a place for people of all faiths to explore Jewish history, culture, and heritage. The museum had a dedicated education team, with a programme for schools, community groups and families. Charles, Prince of Wales (later King Charles III) was a patron of the museum. [1]

Contents

The events, programmes and activities at the museum aimed to provoke questions, challenge prejudice, and encourage understanding.

The museum closed during the covid-19 pandemic in the UK and reopened for two days a week in July 2021, but visitor numbers and income did not recover. [2] The museum closed indefinitely on 30 July 2023, loaning collections to other heritage organisations, [3] , intending to sell the building and move elsewhere taking up to five years to plan and finance the move. [4]

History

The museum, a registered charity, [5] was founded in 1932 in the Jewish communal headquarters in Bloomsbury. In 1995, it moved to its current location in Camden Town. Until 2007 it had a sister museum in Finchley, operated by the same charitable trust and sited within the Sternberg Centre. The Camden branch reopened in 2010 after two years of major building and extension work. [6] [7] The £10 million renovation was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and private donations.

The museum was in a row of buildings in Albert Street that have been listed Grade II by Historic England. [8]

Collections

Solomon Hart, Procession of the law, 1845 Hart, Solomon Alexander, R A - Procession of the Law - Google Art Project.jpg
Solomon Hart, Procession of the law, 1845

The museum housed a major international-level collection of Jewish ceremonial art including the Lindo lamp, an early example of a British Hanukkah menorah. [9] The building included a gallery entitled Judaism: A Living Faith, displaying the museum's noted collection of Jewish ceremonial art. This collection had been awarded "designated" status by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council in recognition of its outstanding national importance. [9] The museum's Holocaust Gallery included items and filmed survivor testimony from Leon Greenman, [10] who was one of the few British subjects to be interned in the death camps section at Auschwitz.

The museum also had exhibitions recounting the history of Jewish life in England, supported by a diverse collection of objects. There were also collections of paintings, prints and drawings, and an archive of photographs, which consisted mainly of black and white photographs from the 1900s to the 1940s, along with militaria from the former Jewish Military Museum, which merged into it in January 2015. [11]

Exhibitions

There were two temporary exhibition spaces.[ clarification needed ] The third floor housed major exhibitions, with smaller exhibitions in the temporary exhibition space on the ground floor.

Previous exhibitions

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Epstein</span> American-British sculptor (1880–1959)

Sir Jacob Epstein was an American-British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1910.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R. B. Kitaj</span> American painter

Ronald Brooks Kitaj was an American artist who spent much of his life in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manchester Jewish Museum</span> Museum in Manchester, England

Manchester Jewish Museum occupies the former Spanish and Portuguese synagogue and an adjacent building on Cheetham Hill Road in Manchester, England. It is a grade II* listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum of the Home</span> Museum in London, England

The Museum of the Home, formerly the Geffrye Museum, is a free museum in the 18th-century Grade I-listed former almshouses on Kingsland Road in Hoxton, London. The museum's change of name was announced in 2019. The museum explores home and home life from 1600 to the present day with galleries which ask questions about 'home', present diverse lived experiences, and examine the psychological and emotional relationships people have with the idea of "home" alongside a series of period room displays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willesden Jewish Cemetery</span> Cemetery in Willesden, London

The Willesden United Synagogue Cemetery, usually known as Willesden Jewish Cemetery, is a Jewish cemetery at Beaconsfield Road, Willesden, in the London Borough of Brent, England. It opened in 1873 on a 20-acre (0.08 km2) site. It has been described as the "Rolls-Royce" of London's Jewish cemeteries and is designated Grade II on Historic England's Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. The cemetery, which has 29,800 graves, has many significant memorials and monuments. Four of them are listed at Grade II. They include the tomb of Rosalind Franklin, who was a co-discoverer of the structure of DNA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiener Holocaust Library</span> Institution in London

The Wiener Holocaust Library is the world's oldest institution devoted to the study of the Holocaust, its causes and legacies. Founded in 1933 as an information bureau that informed Jewish communities and governments worldwide about the persecution of the Jews under the Nazis, it was transformed into a research institute and public access library after the end of World War II and is situated in Russell Square, London.

The history of Jews in Australia traces the history of Australian Jews from the British settlement of Australia commencing in 1788. Though Europeans had visited Australia before 1788, there is no evidence of any Jewish sailors among the crew. The first Jews known to have come to Australia came as convicts transported to Botany Bay in 1788 aboard the First Fleet that established the first European settlement on the continent, on the site of present-day Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watts Gallery</span> Art gallery in Compton, Surrey, England

Watts Gallery – Artists' Village is an art gallery in the village of Compton, near Guildford in Surrey. It is dedicated to the work of the Victorian-era painter and sculptor George Frederic Watts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Belgium</span>

The history of the Jews in Belgium goes back to the 1st century CE until today. The Jewish community numbered 66,000 on the eve of the Second World War but after the war and The Holocaust, now is less than half that number.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">York Art Gallery</span> Public art gallery in England

York Art Gallery is a public art gallery in York, England, with a collection of paintings from 14th-century to contemporary, prints, watercolours, drawings, and ceramics. It closed for major redevelopment in 2013, reopening in summer of 2015. The building is a Grade II listed building and is managed by York Museums Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Uri Gallery & Museum</span> Art museum in London

The Ben Uri Gallery & Museum is a registered museum and charity based at 108a Boundary Road, off Abbey Road in St John's Wood, London, England. It features the work and lives of émigré artists in London, and describes itself as "The Art Museum for Everyone".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiltshire Museum</span> Archaeology Museum, History museum in Wiltshire, England

The Wiltshire Museum, formerly known as Wiltshire Heritage Museum and Devizes Museum, is a museum, archive and library and art gallery established in 1874 in Devizes, Wiltshire, England. The museum was created and is run by the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, a registered charity founded in 1853.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews</span> Historic museum in Warsaw

POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews is a museum on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto. The Hebrew word Polin in the museum's English name means either "Poland" or "rest here" and relates to a legend about the arrival of the first Jews to Poland. Construction of the museum in designated land in Muranów, Warsaw's prewar Jewish quarter, began in 2009, following an international architectural competition won by Finnish architects Rainer Mahlamäki and Ilmari Lahdelma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salomons Museum</span> Museum in the county of Kent, southeast England

The Salomons Museum is a museum north of Tunbridge Wells, in the county of Kent, southeast England. It preserves the country house of Sir David Salomons, the first Jewish Lord Mayor of London, and of his nephew, Sir David Lionel Salomons, a scientist and engineer. Originally called Broomhill, the house is now called Salomons. The museum is managed by Markerstudy Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abingdon County Hall Museum</span> Local museum in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

Abingdon County Hall Museum is a local museum in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England. The museum is run by Abingdon Town Council and supported by Abingdon Museum Friends, a registered charity. It is a Grade I listed building.

Dorothy Bohm was a German-born British photographer based in London, known for her portraiture, street photography, early adoption of colour, and photography of London and Paris; she is considered one of the doyennes of British photography.

British Jews have experienced antisemitism - discrimination and persecution as Jews - since a Jewish community was first established in England in 1070. They experienced a series of massacres in the Medieval period, which culminated in their expulsion from England in 1290.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oregon Jewish Museum</span> Museum of the history of the Jews of Oregon

The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education is the largest museum dedicated to the documented and visual history of the Jews of Oregon, United States. The Museum is dedicated to the preservation, research, and exhibition of art, archival materials, and artifacts of the Jews and Judaism in Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campaign Against Antisemitism</span> British non-governmental organisation

Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) is a British non-governmental organisation established in August 2014 by members of the Anglo-Jewish community. It publishes research, organises rallies and petitions, and conducts litigation.

References

  1. "Jewish charities attend Prince Charles' 70th birthday party at Buckingham Palace". Jewish News . 23 May 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  2. Rose, David (1 June 2023). "London's Jewish Museum to close indefinitely amid massive losses". The Jewish Chronicle . Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  3. White, Harry. "Jewish Museum London on the Move project awarded Heritage Fund grant". The Jewish Museum London. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
  4. Ben-David, Daniel (31 July 2023). "End of an era! London's Jewish Museum closes after 28 years in Camden". The Jewish Chronicle . Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  5. "The Jewish Museum London, registered charity no. 1009819". Charity Commission for England and Wales . Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  6. Lawless, Jill (17 March 2010). "London's Jewish Museum reopens after major facelift". USA Today . Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  7. "Town firm wins top museum contract. Chad, 29 April 2009. Accessed 16 March 2022
  8. Historic England (14 May 1974). "Numbers 123–139 and Attached Railings (1378643)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  9. 1 2 Sechan, Sarah (21 July 2009). "London's Jewish Museum preparing to buy 300-year-old hanukkia for new location". The Jerusalem Post . Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  10. "The Holocaust Gallery". Jewish Museum London. Archived from the original on 23 July 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  11. Freedland, Michael (4 September 2010). "The call went out: 'Enlist at once in any regiment' – The Jewish Military Museum in London tells a story that needed to be told". The Times . Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  12. Peled, Daniella (20 March 2019). "Jews Have Been Seen as 'All About the Benjamins' for 2,000 Years, New Exhibition Shows". Haaretz . Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  13. Finkelstein, Daniel (20 March 2019). "Next time I'm asked how antisemitism started, I'll say 'go to this exhibition'". The Times . Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  14. "Charlotte Salomon: Life? or Theatre?". Jewish Museum London. 8 November 2019 – 1 March 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2023.