Mikveh (Herborn)

Kornmarkt 22. The former mikvah is located here in the cellar.

The mikveh in Herborn was the ritual bath of the Jewish community in Herborn .

Geographical location

The mikvah is located in the vaulted cellar of Kornmarkt 22, a building that was used by the Jewish community in the city of Herborn (today: Lahn-Dill district , in Hesse ) from 1677 to 1875 . The synagogue and the school room of the Jewish community were also located here.

history

A dating of the bath from the building historical findings turned out to be impossible. It seems certain that the mikveh was built into the basement of the building when the building was used as the community's cultural center - possibly later. The nested arrangement of two barrel vaults that did not match each other also led to the assumption that the complex may already date from the 14th century, when a first Jewish community lived in Herborn. However, this cannot be proven. Traces of multiple repairs to the system between the 17th and 19th centuries have been identified. The last major renovation of the bath took place in the 19th century, when the state issued regulations for the operation of mikvehs, which set certain standards. Whether the mikveh was still in use after 1875 when the synagogue was moved to another location could also not be clarified. In the new synagogue, however, there was no mikveh.

During the renovation of the building, the mikveh was rediscovered in 1983, exposed and restored until 1984. Today, the mikvah is looked after by the Herborn Museum in the city's high school and is accessible to visitors via a side entrance in the street Hanauer Hof .

Building report

The mikveh is located in the southern half of the broken stone vaulted cellar in its own small barrel vault that is offset by 90 degrees from the vault of the cellar. The basin was lined with bricks , partly also clad with oak .

The mikveh is a cultural monument due to the Hessian Monument Protection Act .

literature

• Thea Altaras: Synagogues and ritual immersion baths in Hesse - What has happened since 1945? 2nd Edition. Koenigstein i. Ts. 2007. ISBN 978-3-7845-7794-4 , especially pp. 215-217.
• Working group for research into the history of Jews in southern Germany and the neighboring region: Alemannia Judaica. Herborn (Lahn-Dill district) .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Detailed description in Altaras, pp. 215ff.
2. ↑ Altaras: Synagogen , p. 218.
3. ↑ Altaras: Synagogen , p. 221.
4. ↑ Folkhard Cremer u. a .: "Dehio". Hessen I - Darmstadt district . Berlin 2008. ISBN 978-3-422-03117-3 , p. 403
5. ↑ denkxweb database of the State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse .

Coordinates: 50 ° 40 ′ 56.5 ″  N , 8 ° 18 ′ 12.2 ″  E