2023-09-17 15:28:44
Erfurt is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The title was awarded by a UNESCO committee in Saudi Arabia for the Jewish-medieval heritage of the Thuringian capital. This was the culmination of years of preparatory work.
The Jewish-medieval heritage in Erfurt is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The responsible committee decided this on Sunday followingnoon at its meeting in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh.
The Old Synagogue, the medieval ritual bath – the Mikveh – and a historic residential building, the so-called Stone House, make up the 52nd World Heritage Site in Germany.
Three buildings represent Erfurt’s World Heritage title
Old synagogue
The Old Synagogue in Erfurt is now part of the Erfurt UNESCO World Heritage Site. Image rights: dpa
Erfurt’s Old Synagogue is considered one of the oldest synagogues in Central Europe that has been preserved up to the roof. During a pogrom in 1349, the Jewish quarter around the synagogue was set on fire, and almost all of the approximately 1,000 members of the Jewish community died. Researchers believe there are few, if any, survivors. After the pogrom, the Old Synagogue was initially converted into a warehouse and later used as a restaurant and dance hall. The city suspects that this is why the building was later saved from destruction by the Nazis. Today there is a museum in the Old Synagogue, whose oldest traces of construction date back to around 1094. Evidence of Jewish life in medieval Erfurt is on display.
These include several thousand silver coins and bars as well as gold and silversmith’s work from the 13th and 14th centuries. The most important piece is a gold wedding ring. Researchers suspect that this so-called Erfurt Treasure was buried during the pogrom. It was discovered during archaeological investigations in 1998 near the Old Synagogue.
This gold wedding ring is considered the most important piece in the museum in the Old Synagogue. Image rights: imago/pictureteam
Marked
Now also part of Erfurt’s World Heritage Site: The Mikveh, a Jewish ritual bath of medieval origin in the old town. Image rights: dpa
The Erfurt Mikveh, located directly on the banks of the Gera River, is one of the few surviving examples of medieval community mikvehs. The shape of the building differs from the otherwise preserved shaft or cellar mikvahs in Cologne and Speyer, for example. The Jewish community probably had a mikveh on the Gera as early as the twelfth century. The use of the ritual bath ended in 1453 or 1454 at the latest when the city council forced the Jews to emigrate. The ritual bath was only discovered by chance around 16 years ago.
The Stone House
Also part of the Erfurt World Heritage Site: The Stone House. Image rights: dpa
The Stone House, built around 1250, is a secular building and has neither ritual nor religious significance. The well-preserved structures in the building with portals, light niches and colorful wooden beam ceilings testify to Jewish life in the High Middle Ages. The building has been used as a warehouse since the 15th century. The Stone House needs to be restored and is not yet open to the public.
“Guarding treasure like the apple of our eye”: Reactions to UNESCO title
Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Left) praised the three award-winning buildings in the old town as architectural gems that uniquely testified to the peaceful coexistence of Jewish and Christian communities in the Middle Ages. “May Thuringia send a message of a life of diversity and peaceful coexistence with this decision,” he explained following the decision. Erfurt’s mayor Andreas Bausewein (SPD) sees the title as the culmination of years of meticulous preparation. “Now that Erfurt has been ennobled with the World Heritage title, we must and will guard and protect this treasure like the apple of our eyes,” he said.
The chairman of the Jewish regional community, Reinhard Schramm, sees the World Heritage title as an attraction for tourists. The Jewish community members would now feel even more at home. Schramm is also hoping for a kosher restaurant in Erfurt as part of the World Heritage title.
The President of the German UNESCO Commission, Maria Böhmer, said that the Jewish monuments had been almost forgotten for centuries. Her rediscovery is a great gift.
Erfurt sees the World Heritage status as an obligation to maintain and further research the three sites. For example, the city is working on the idea of a world heritage center behind the town hall. Two years ago, UNESCO honored Jewish cultural assets in Germany for the first time. The so-called Shum sites in Mainz, Worms and Speyer received the World Heritage title as a cradle of European Jewry.
There are now five World Heritage sites in Thuringia
The decision in Saudi Arabia was broadcast live on Sunday in the ballroom of the Erfurt town hall. Around 200 guests followed the meeting in Riyadh. The World Heritage application involved a total of 15 years of research into Erfurt’s and thus Thuringia’s Jewish past. It is Thuringia’s fifth UNESCO World Heritage Site – following the Wartburg, the classic Weimar, the Bauhaus-Weimar and the Hainich National Park.
More regarding the long journey from Erfurt to becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site
This topic in the program:MDR THURINGIA | MDR THÜRINGIA JOURNAL | September 17, 2023 | 7:00 p.m
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