Judenhof Speyer
The Judenhof Speyer was the central district of the medieval Jewish quarter of Speyer and consisted of the synagogue with a women's school, synagogue courtyard and yeshiva as well as the oldest surviving mikveh in Central Europe , the ritual immersion bath of the Jews. The synagogue was built around 1100, the women's school added a little later. The mikveh also dates from this period. The site was no longer used after 1534 and fell into disrepair. Speyer's new synagogue on Maximilianstrasse, built in 1837, was destroyed during the November pogroms in 1938 .
Components
synagogue
The towering remains of the medieval synagogue of Speyer stand in the center of the grounds of the Judenhof. It was inaugurated in 1104. The surrounding walls of the building designed as a hall have been partially preserved, making it the best-preserved synagogue from the early 12th century in Europe. Furthermore, it is considered the earliest surviving example of a synagogue of its design (hall), which was formative in Ashkenaz for centuries .
A trace of fire in the building findings is associated with the chronically attested pogrom of 1196 during the Heinrich VI crusade ; The synagogue is believed to be rebuilt around 1200. Two arched windows from the west wall have been preserved from this period. They remained installed until 1899 when they were exhibited in the Palatinate History Museum . During the Gothic period , two windows in the east wall were replaced by larger ones. One of the oculi installed on both gable sides has also been preserved. The synagogue was presumably plastered from the outside, which suggests the smallest of plaster residues on the outer walls.
On the east wall of the synagogue towards the mikveh , a yeshiva , a teaching house, was built. The building dates back to the first half of the 14th century and was designed as a "square building" with cross vaults. Since the middle of the 16th century, when there was no longer a Jewish community in Speyer, the building remained unused, was partially demolished and destroyed by a major fire in 1689 at the latest. The yeshiva exists today as a ground monument, in the east wall of the synagogue there are still references to the extension.
Women's school
The women's synagogue, also known as the women's school, was added to the south of the synagogue around 1250. 40 years earlier, the first synagogue for women had been built in Worms - the Jewish community in Speyer followed this example with the construction of the women's school. At the same time, the community renewed the interior of the synagogue in Gothic form. Six listening slots, some of which are still visible today, were inserted in the south wall facing the women's school so that the women in the neighboring room could listen to the service and adapt their own prayers and chants to the process. The women's school was a hall construction. Inside there were brick benches on the north, south and east walls, while the entrances, which are no longer preserved today, were in the west wall. Further information on the interior appearance are assumptions, but the women's school was given a vault in the middle of the 14th century, creating a two-aisled and four-bay interior.
Mikveh
To the east of the synagogue walls is the Jewish ritual bath, built around 1110/1120. It is around 11 m deep and has a floor area of almost 3 m³. If you go down, a Romanesque portal leads into an anteroom with a stone bench, which could have served as a changing room. The anteroom is dominated by delicate columns and a twin window. On the left is a niche room, which also has a small bench. The niche, known colloquially as a “closet”, may have had various functions, e.g. for changing clothes or for storing towels to dry off. Another staircase leads down from the platform to the water basin. The architecture of the mikveh is based on the Romanesque architectural style prevailing at the time: "The plastic jewelry in the dressing room was rich, tasteful and alternating, entirely in keeping with the Romanesque style at the time of its heyday." The mikveh monumentalizes and choreographs the act of cultic cleaning and also as a response to the increased need for cultic purity for men and women in the ShUM communities after the crusade pogroms . This staging of spiritual purity takes place through the elaborate construction with the elongated staircase, the platform and the columns and the double window as well as the lavishly designed interior. This also underlines the former status of the community. Up until the 20th century, ritual baths were a significant part of community life - no community could exist without a mikveh, it was more important than the synagogue. The Speyer mikvah became the model for the ritual bath that was later built in Worms on a somewhat smaller scale.
Synagogue courtyard
The synagogue courtyard was built on the north wall of the synagogue. Today it is archaeologically comprehensible. The synagogue courtyard served as a meeting place and was added to the synagogue around 1200.
Yeshiva
The yeshiva, the place of teaching and learning, has been preserved as a ground monument. It adjoins the synagogue courtyard and the synagogue to the east and was free-standing on three sides. The yeshiva dates back to the first half of the 14th century, making it one of the first independent buildings to have this function. It has existed as a ground monument since the great city fire during the Palatinate War of Succession .
present
The Judenhof was archaeologically developed and redesigned in 1998/1999. The site and the museum are managed by the Speyer Tourist Office. The SchPIRA museum also belongs to it . The Judenhof Speyer is one of the components of the ShUM sites that will apply for a place on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2020/21 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ s. on this: Elmar Worgull : Views of the vita and museum works of the wood sculptor Otto Martin (1872–1950) who worked in Speyer . In: Pfälzer Heimat: Journal of the Palatinate Society for the Promotion of Science in conjunction with the Historical Association of the Palatinate and the Foundation for the Promotion of Palatinate Historical Research . Publishing house of the Palatinate Society for the Advancement of Science, Speyer. Issue 1 (2009), pp. 19-26.
- ^ Speyer receives a new synagogue. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012 ; accessed on March 3, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c Pia Heberer: "... the whitewashed walls were decorated with paintings." The synagogue in Speyer. In: The German Society for Archeology of the Middle Ages and Modern Times e. V. (Ed.): Findings and reconstruction . tape 22 . Heidelberg 2010.
- ↑ http://www.zum.de/Faecher/G/BW/Landeskunde/rhein/staedte/speyer/mikwedef.htm
- ↑ Friedrich Hildenbrand: The Roman Jewish bath in the old synagogue courtyard at Speier on the Rhine . Speyer 1920.
- ↑ See also the website of the mikveh in Worms [1]
Coordinates: 49 ° 18 ′ 58 ″ N , 8 ° 26 ′ 23 ″ E