The Museum of Jewish Art and History, the Marais and the Jews
France has the third largest Jewish community in the world, after Israel and the United States. The presence of the Jews goes back more than 2000 years.
The Marais in Paris is a neighborhood where Jews resided as early as the Middle Ages. The Museum of Jewish Art and History presents one of the world's finest collections of religious objects and works of art in the majestic setting of a 17th century mansion.
The permanent exhibition traces the history of the Jews of France, Europe and North Africa through their art and heritage.
Its many temporary exhibitions, its events in the auditorium and its educational activities make it one of the major stages of Parisian cultural life.
The MAHJ also has a media library (library, video library and photo library) and a bookshop open to the public, as well as a 198-seat auditorium.
The permanent collection of the Museum of Jewish Art and History
Each room of the permanent collection is organized around a triple chronological, geographical and thematic articulation. This presentation highlights both the diversity and the unity of the Jewish communities of Europe and the Maghreb through their rites, their beliefs, their artistic productions and their material culture. Moreover, the situation of the Jews of France is singular because Ashkenazi Jews and Sephardic Jews cohabit and the two traditions are intermingled.
The presentation is divided into
- an introductory room,
- Jews in France in the Middle Ages,
- Jews in Italy from the Renaissance to the eighteenth century,
- Hanukkah
- Amsterdam, meeting of two diasporas,
- Next year in Jerusalem,
- The traditional Ashkenazi world,
- The traditional Sephardic world,
- Emancipation, The French Model,
- Intellectual and political movements in Europe at the turn of the century,
- Jewish Presences in 20th Century Art,
- Being Jewish in Paris in 1939
The Dreyfus Fund at the Museum of Jewish Art and History
At the same time as an exhibition in 2006, Alfred Dreyfus, le combat pour la justice, the Museum of Jewish Art and History put online a presentation of the Dreyfus Affair and its "exceptional collection relating to the Affair and the Dreyfus family, allowing online consultation of the more than 3,000 documents, letters, photographs, and other items that make up the collection".
In the center of the courtyard is a large modern statue by Tim representing Dreyfus holding his broken sword, a copy of Hommage au capitaine Dreyfus.
Acquisitions related to the Dreyfus Affair
The courtroom sketches made by the journalist and draftsman Maurice Feuillet during the trials of Emile Zola in Paris in 1898 and the second trial of Alfred Dreyfus in Rennes in 1899 were auctioned on December 8, 2020 in Nantes. The lots of drawings were largely pre-empted by the national museums, to enrich the museum's collections.
The Museum, the Marais and the Hôtel de Saint-Aignan
The mansion hotel de Saint Aignan was built in 1644-1650 for Claude de Mesmes. In 1688, the hotel was bought by Paul de Beauvilliers, Duke of Saint-Aignan, who gave it his name. He undertook a campaign of renovation and modernization. He converted the second floor into apartments and called upon André Le Nôtre to redesign a French garden.
In 1792, the hotel de Saint-Aignan was seized and sequestered following the Revolution. It became the seat of the seventh municipality in 1795, then of the seventh district until 1823, before being divided into commercial premises of all kinds. Having been the object of successive resales, the hotel was dedicated to commerce and small industry from 1842 onwards. The following pages evoke the life of this building where Jewish craftsmen immigrated from Poland, Romania and Ukraine. During the great anti-Jewish raids of 1942, several people living in the building were arrested and deported. In total, thirteen of the hotel's Jewish residents were murdered in the camps.
The Hôtel de Saint-Aignan was bought by the City of Paris in 1962, and was classified as a historical monument in 1963. After a restoration campaign, the building was assigned to the Paris archives. In 1998, following an initiative of Jacques Chirac when he was mayor of Paris, the Saint-Aignan hotel was assigned to the installation of a museum dedicated to Jewish civilization: the Museum of Jewish Art and History.
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