Hôtel de Saint-Aignan
Museum of Art and History of the Judaism
Paris IIIème (France)
|  | 71, rue du Temple 75003
Métro : Châtelet , Châtelet - Les Halles , Hôtel de Ville, Les Halles, Rambuteau
Tél : 01 53 01 86 60
Fax :01 42 72 97 47
Information : info@mahj.org
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| | | Visite virtuelle |  | 13 sections et 70 éléments |
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Indoor Architecture (1)
Jewish art (12)
| Introductory room - Section 01 (4)
The visit begins with an introductory presentation of symbolic objects and fundamental texts, essential to an initial understanding of the permanence of Jewish civilisation.
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| Hanukkah - Section 04 (6)
The theme of historical memory is broached here for the first time through the festivals of Purim and Hanukkah.
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| The traditional Ashkenazi world - Section 07
The sukkah's makeshift structure heralds the scale models of synagogues. This collection marks the beginning of an exploration of the traditional framework of Jewish life in Eastern Europe through its key emotional moments and settings.
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| The traditional Sephardi world - Section 08
The Sephardic expression of the same themes is shown. These two symmetrical collections enable an appreciation of the formal kinship between the two traditions and the weight of influences.
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| The Emancipation : The French model - Section 09
We now enter the era of the Emancipation, which began with the French Revolution. No longer thematic but more historical in nature, this panorama of French Judaism in the 19th century focuses on vital events in its integration into modern society.
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| Contemporary art space - Section 11 (19)
XXth siècle
The temporary exhibition space, located at the end of the museum visit, has shown exhibitions of photographs of Jewish communities all over the world (Five Photographers of Magnum Photos), one-man exhibitions (Lasar Segall, Gérard Garouste) and thematic exhibitions (The Wandering Jew).
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Horaires :
Ouvert tous les jours sauf saturday
11:00 am / 06:00 pm
Sunday : 10:00 am / 06:00 pm,
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| Histoire | |
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The Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme is the successor to the Musée d'art juif de Paris, established in 1948 by a private association to pay homage to a culture that had been destroyed by the Holocaust. The first collections of this museum comprised religious objects handed back in 1951 by the American Jewish Restitution Successor Organisation, commissioned to redistribute Jewish cultural goods looted by the Nazis. Then, on the initiative of the museum's founder, Léon Frenkiel, a collection of documents on European synagogue architecture was built up. In the early years, acquisitions consisted mainly of European religious objects and also sought to represent North African Judaism. Then, the museum's first curator, Marie Chabchay, embarked on building up a narrow but comprehensive collection of graphic works by Russian and German Jewish artists. There followed works by artists from the Paris school, and then, more recently, various gifts.
The other core collection comes from the Musée national du Moyen Âge. This collection, which played a key role in gaining recognition for Jewish art, was built up by Isaac Strauss, a Jew of Alsatian origin, born in Strasbourg in 1806, who moved to Paris in 1827. Appointed by Louis-Philippe to supervise Court balls, then music director of the Vichy spa establishment, he retained these responsibilities under the Second Empire. His villa at Vichy housed a large collection of furniture and works of art. During his travels throughout Europe, he acquired items of furniture, ceremonial objects and Hebrew manuscripts, building up a pioneering collection of outstanding quality.
This collection was featured in the Universal Exhibition of 1878 at the Palais du Trocadéro, and this had a decisive impact on the formation of large Jewish collections at the end of the nineteenth century. The objects were described by Georges Stenne in a catalogue which included very clear sketches, and this was the first bibliographical reference to Jewish art.
At the time of his death, Strauss's collection of Jewish objects amounted to a hundred and forty nine pieces. After changing hands a number of times, it was acquired in 1890 by Baroness Nathaniel de Rothschild who gave it to the State, and was subsequently augmented by individual gifts. However, the apparent eclecticism of this collection, which contains some remarkable and unique pieces, shows a complete indifference to history and folk tradition.
Since its inception in 1988, the Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme has endeavoured to add to the original collections, focusing on France, the history of the Jews, religious art, ethnography and works by Jewish artists.
The long-term loans from the Musée d'Art juif and the Musée national du Moyen Âge, which also contributed a number of medieval Jewish tombstones, have been augmented by loans from the Musée National d'Art moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou, the Musée du Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie, and the Musée national de la Céramique de Sèvres.
The collection of ceremonial art has been considerably enriched by works from the treasure-house of the Paris synagogues loaned by the Consistories of Paris and the Moselle, of liturgical textiles by the Jewish Museum in Prague, and a collection of folk art objects from the Musée historique lorrain in Nancy.
The Fondation du judaïsme français has contributed several modern and contemporary works of art, and the Carnavalet museum has added to the collection of medieval tombstones. |
