Jewish Museum of Turkey

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Jewish Museum of Turkey
Zülfaris Synagogue
Zulfaris synagogue jewish museum istanbul.jpg
Data
place Karakoy , Istanbul
Art
Religious museum
opening 2001
operator
management
Website
In September 1856 a ceremony was held in the Zülfaris Synagogue to commemorate the Jewish soldiers in the French army who fell with the Ottomans against the Russians in the Crimean War . A military unit led by Colonel Garbi Bey was present at the ceremony.

The Jewish Museum of Turkey is a cultural center in the Karaköy district of Istanbul that was established by the 500th Year Foundation ( 500th Yıl Vakfı ) to educate society about the traditions and history of Turkish Judaism . It was inaugurated on November 25, 2001. The foundation was established in 1989 by 113 Turkish citizens, both Jews and Muslims , on the occasion of the five hundredth anniversary of the arrival of the Sephardim in the Ottoman Empire . The idea of ​​a museum was brought up by Naim Güleryüz , who is the museum's curator. The foundation was funded by the prominent Jewish Kamhi family.

building

The museum building, formerly known as the Zülfaris Synagogue , has been restored and redesigned. The synagogue already existed in 1671, and its foundation walls point to a previous building from the colonial times of the Republic of Genoa . It was mentioned in the written sources as “Holy Sinavi (Synagogue) in Galata ” or “Kal Kadoş Galata” and called “Zülfaris”, which according to recent theory is derived from the Persian word “Zülf-ü Arus”, which means “the edge of a bridge “Means. The current building was probably built in the early 19th century.

Timeline

  • 1882 - The marble frame around the Torah shrine is donated by Samuel Malki.
  • 1890 - Repair work was carried out with financial support from the Camondo family .
  • 1904 - The restoration was carried out by the Galata Jewish Community, chaired by Jak Bey de Leon.
  • 1968 - extensive renovation.
  • 1979 - Assigned to Jews of Thracian origin.
  • 1983 - last wedding in the synagogue.
  • 1985 - Due to the shrinking community, the synagogue is closed and handed over to the 500th Yıl Vakfı by the Neve Shalom Foundation .
  • 2001 - With the financial support of the Kamhi family and donations from Jak Kamhi, the synagogue is opened as a museum.

Museum design

Torah shrine of the Zülfaris synagogue

The Jewish Museum of Turkey includes sections on the intermingling cultures of the Jewish and Muslim Turks, as well as ethnographic reports depicting the traditions of the Turkish Jews, as well as historical reports on the Jewish Odyssey from Spain to Turkey.

The entrance to the building leads through an iron gate into an inner courtyard with metal sculptures by Nadia Arditti. The "Statue of the Rising Fire" commemorates the Turkish Jews who fought for the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans , Dalmatia , the Caucasus , Palestine , Triponitania , the Dardanelles , Korea and the Turkish War of Liberation .

The octagonal main hall at the information desks on the entrance floor deals with the Zülfaris synagogue, the institution of the Chacham Baschi , the everyday life of the Jews living in Istanbul and Anatolia as well as artefacts in the form of letters, cards, tallit and Fermanen (imperial decrees). A copy of the Lausanne Treaty is shown, which recognizes the sovereignty of the Turkish Republic and granted Turkish Jews their minority rights. The Torah shrine on the same floor contains two Torah scrolls . Another area features Jewish academics who fled Europe to Turkey during World War II and the Holocaust , as well as Turkish diplomats who helped Jews during the Holocaust - some of whom were honored as Righteous Among the Nations .

The gallery, which once served as a prayer section for the women, contains some drawings depicting the daily life of the Jewish community. The ground floor is organized chronologically as an ethnographic section - with photographs and sculptures of birth, circumcision , weddings, clothing, jewelery from Jews, etc.

Web links

Commons : Zülfaris Synagogue  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Chief Rabbinate of Turkey (Türkiye Hahambaşılığı). (No longer available online.) In: musevicemaati.com. Archived from the original on December 12, 2017 ; Retrieved April 20, 2007 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.musevicemaati.com
  2. ↑ a b c d e Naim Güleryüz: The Quincentennial Foundation Museum of Turkish Jews (English) . In: Beyoğlu , June 1, 2006, pp. 50–56.  .
  3. ↑ History of Zülfaris Synagogue. In: muze500.com. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007 ; Retrieved April 1, 2008 .