Beautiful Ester
Masterpieces for a Queen
On display from March 20th to June 24th
The Jewish Museum of Rome is located in the Great Synagogue monumental complex. Walking across the different rooms you can see a reconstruction of Jewish life in Rome since the earliest settlement in the second century before the Common Era.
The Jewish community has been living continuously in Rome for 2,200 years, making it one of the oldest communities outside of Israel. The exhibits on display in the museum date back principally to the ghetto period (1555-1870) and all come from the original ‘Five Synagogues’ building.
The rich collection includes liturgical furnishings, manuscripts, incunabula, historical documents, records and marble works.
Since 1960, the museum displayed its treasures in a single room, but the study and cataloguing of all the works required a larger display area. The new exhibit was inaugurated in 2005.
The museum covers an area of 700 square meters and unfolds through seven rooms with different themes. It offers a reconstruction of the Jewish people life in Rome and shows us how they managed to integrate into the socio-economic structure of the city, while they maintained their own identity.
The Great Synagogue
In 1870, with the breach of Porta Pia, the Italian Army conquered Rome and the city, with all its territory, was absorbed into the Kingdom of Italy: the temporal power of the popes had ended. Later on, Rome was declared as the capital of the Kingdom…
Read more…
The Spanish Synagogue
At the end of the nineteenth century, the Jewish Community of Rome wanted to replace the Ghetto’s five ancient synagogues (Cinque Scole) with a monumental one Read more…
The Jewish Quarter
In 1555 Pope Paul IV established the ghetto, choosing one of the most dilapidated and unhealthy neighborhoods in the city, where the Jews were forced to live apart from the rest of the population.
Read more…