DESCRIPTION OF THE RELIGIOUS SITE
DESCRIPTION The Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme or mahJ (French: "Museum of Jewish Art and History") is the largest French museum of Jewish art and history. It is located in the Hôtel de Saint-Aignan in the Marais district in Paris.
The museum conveys the rich history and culture of Jews in Europe and North Africa from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. Its fine collection of religious objects, archives, manuscripts, and works of art promotes the contributions of Jews to France and to the world, especially in the arts. The museum's impressive collections include works of art from Marc Chagall and Amedeo Modigliani.
The museum has a bookshop selling books on Jewish art and history and Judaica, a media library with an online catalogue accessible to the public, and an auditorium which offers conferences, lectures, concerts, performances, and seminars. It also provides guided weekly visits in English during the tourist season (April to July) for individuals as well as students and teachers, and workshops for children, families, and adults.
HISTORICAL RELEVANCE In 1985 Claude-Gérard Marcus, Victor Klagsbald, and Alain Erlande-Brandenburg launched a project to create a museum of Jewish art and history in Paris, backed by the City of Paris and the ministry of Culture, represented by Jack Lang, Minister of Culture. The project had two goals: first, to provide Paris with an ambitious museum dedicated to Judaism and second, to present national collections acquired from the reserves of the national museum of the Middle Ages. At the time, only a modest museum devoted to Judaism existed in Paris, on the rue des Saules.
The project was led by Laurence Sigal starting in 1988. The mayor of Paris at the time, Jacques Chirac, provided the Hotel de Saint-Aignan in the Marais as a site for the future museum. The Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme finally opened in 1998.
The two architects in charge of redesigning the interior of the building, Catherine Bizouard and Francois Pin, not only crafted the areas for the permanent collections but also created a media library, an auditorium, a bookshop, and an area dedicated to educational workshops.
The museum provides areas for temporary exhibitions, educational activities, and research, making it a dynamic and innovative cultural venue.
INTER-RELIGIOUS RELEVANCE At its creation, the museum outlined five missions that it seeks to fulfill:
Present two thousand years of history of Jewish communities in France and contextualize them in the overall history of Judaism.
Conserve, study, diffuse, and promote the museum's collection, archives, and documents relating to Jewish history and art.
Make the collection as accessible as possible to a large public.
Organize the diffusion of all forms of artistic expressions relating to Jewish culture in all its diversity.
Create and execute educational operations, activities, and enterprises to promote Jewish culture.
RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE With millions of visitors per year, the museum attracts a large demography of people, from different confessions. It influences their perspective on the subject of What is the Judaism religion, making them rethink their preconceived notions.
HOW TO USE WITH THE STUDENTS Direct visit
REFERENCE TO THE GUIDELINE
MEDIA RESOURCES
VIDEOS
LINKS