The Jewish Museum London is a museum of British

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

life, history and identity. The museum is situated in Camden Town in the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and S ...

, North London. It is a place for people of all faiths to explore Jewish history, culture, and heritage. The museum has a dedicated education team, with a programme for schools, community groups and families.

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

is a patron of the museum. The events, programmes and activities at the museum aim to provoke questions, challenge prejudice, and encourage understanding.

History

The museum, a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

, was founded in 1932 in the Jewish communal headquarters in

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

. In 1995, it moved to its current location in Camden Town. Until 2007 it had a sister museum in Finchley, operated by the same charitable trust and sited within the

Sternberg Centre The Sternberg Centre for Judaism, in East End Road, Finchley, London, is a campus hosting a number of Jewish institutions, built around the 18th-century Finchley manor house. It was founded to facilitate a number of Reform and Liberal Jewis ...

. The Camden branch reopened in 2010 after two years of major building and extension work. The £10 million renovation was funded by the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

and private donations. The museum is in a row of buildings in Albert Street that have been

listed Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

Collections

The museum houses a major international-level collection of

Jewish ceremonial art Jewish ceremonial art, also known as Judaica (), refers to an array of objects used by Jews for ritual purposes. Because enhancing a mitzvah by performing it with an especially beautiful object is considered a praiseworthy way of honoring God's ...

including the Lindo lamp, an early example of a British Hanukkah menorah. The building includes a gallery entitled ''Judaism: A Living Faith'', displaying the museum's noted collection of Jewish ceremonial art. This collection has been awarded "designated" status by the

Museums, Libraries and Archives Council The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) was until May 2012 a non-departmental public body and registered charity in England with a remit to promote improvement and innovation in the area of museums, libraries and archives. Its functi ...

in recognition of its outstanding national importance. The museum's ''Holocaust Gallery'' includes items and filmed survivor testimony from Leon Greenman, who was one of the few British subjects to be interned in the

death camps Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...

section at Auschwitz. The museum also has exhibitions recounting the history of Jewish life in England, supported by a diverse collection of objects. There are also collections of paintings, prints and drawings, and an archive of photographs, which consists mainly of black and white photographs from the 1900s to the 1940s, along with militaria from the former Jewish Military Museum, which merged into it in January 2015.

Exhibitions

There are two temporary exhibition spaces. The third floor houses major exhibitions, with smaller exhibitions in the temporary exhibition space on the ground floor.

Previous exhibitions

* '' Asterix in Britain: The Life and Work of René Goscinny'' * '' Elspeth Juda: Grit and Glamour'' * ''Designs on Britain'' * ''Scots Jews: Photographs by Judah Passow'' * ''Shaping Ceramics: From

Lucie Rie Dame Lucie Rie, (16 March 1902 – 1 April 1995) () was an Austrian-born British studio potter. Life Early years and education Lucie Gomperz was born in Vienna, Lower Austria, Austria-Hungary, the youngest child of Benjamin Gomperz, a Jewis ...

Edmund de Waal Edmund Arthur Lowndes de Waal, (born 10 September 1964) is a contemporary English artist, master potter and author. He is known for his large-scale installations of porcelain vessels often created in response to collections and archives or t ...

'' * ''

Dorothy Bohm Dorothy Bohm (22 June 1924 – 15 March 2023) was a German-born British photographer based in London, known for her portraiture, street photography, early adoption of colour, and photography of London and Paris; she is considered one of the do ...

: Sixties London'' * ''Moses, Mods and Mr Fish: The Menswear Revolution'' * ''Through a Queer Lens: Portraits of LGBTQ Jews'' * ''Blood: Uniting & Dividing'' * ''Memory Quilts: Triumph Over Adversity'' * ''Tiger, Mog and Pink Rabbit: a

Judith Kerr Anna Judith Gertrud Helene Kerr (surname pronounced ; 14 June 1923 – 22 May 2019) was a German-born British writer and illustrator whose books sold more than 10 million copies around the world.

Retrospective'' * ''Your Jewish Museum: Love, Journeys and Sacrifice'' * ''Blackguards in Bonnets'' * ''For Richer, For Poorer: Weddings Unveiled'' * ''Designing the 20th Century: Life and Work of

Abram Games Abram Games (29 July 191427 August 1996) was a British graphic designer. The style of his work – refined but vigorous compared to the work of contemporaries – has earned him a place in the pantheon of the best of 20th-century graphic desi ...

'' * ''For King and Country? The Jewish Experience of the First World War'' * ''Four Four Jew: Football, Fans and Faith'' * ''

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz. A m ...

: A Family Portrait'' * ''

R.B. Kitaj Ronald Brooks Kitaj (; October 29, 1932 – October 21, 2007) was an American artist who spent much of his life in England. Life He was born in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, United States. His Hungarian father, Sigmund Benway, left his mother, Jeanne ...

: Obsessions – The Art of Identity'' * ''Morocco: Photographs by Elias Harrus and Pauline Prior'' * ''Entertaining the Nation: Stars of Music, Stage and Screen'' * ''No Place Like Home'' * ''World City: Refugee Stories'' * ''

Ludwig Guttmann Sir Ludwig Guttmann (3 July 1899 – 18 March 1980) was a German-British neurologist who established the Stoke Mandeville Games, the sporting event for people with disabilities (PWD) that evolved in England into the Paralympic Games. A Jewis ...

: Father of the Paralympic Games'' * '' Adi Nes: The Village'' * '' Roman Vishniac Rediscovered'', presented simultaneously at

The Photographers' Gallery The Photographers' Gallery was founded in London by Sue Davies opening on 14 January 1971, as the first public gallery in the United Kingdom devoted solely to photography. It is also home to the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, established i ...

. * '' Jews, Money, Myth'', exploring antisemitic imagery linking Jews with money. Alongside manifestations of antisemitic imagery dating back to

Judas Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betray ...

and Thirty pieces of silver, the exhibit featured a display case of the popular Polish "

Lucky Jew The Jew with a coin (, also little Jew (), or lucky Jew ()) is a good luck charm in Poland, where images or figurines of the character, usually accompanied by a proverb, are said to bring good fortune, particularly financially. For most Pole ...

" figurines. * ''Charlotte Salomon: Life? or Theatre?''

References

External links

*
Jewish Museum London
within

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world. It utilizes high-resolution image technol ...