Mikveh (Erfurt)

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The protective structure over the mikveh opened in 2011
Excavations 2007

The Erfurt mikveh is a Jewish ritual bath of medieval origin in the old town of Erfurt an der Gera in the area of ​​the Krämerbrücke . It belongs to the Erfurt Jewish Life Network .

The mikveh was rediscovered in 2007 and opened to the public as a cultural site in 2011. The location of the plant was therefore favorable, as the necessary groundwater was already available at a shallow depth directly on the Gera . A previous building of the ritual bath can be dated to the 12th century. The existing mikvah dates from the 13th century. It was first mentioned in 1248 and used until the Jews were expelled in 1453 . Afterwards, the bathroom was probably a storage and basement room. When the city ​​fire in 1472, the room was affected and then repaired. The space was integrated into the Kreuzgasse / Kreuzsand 9 and 10 development in the 16th century . These houses were destroyed by the air raid on February 9, 1945 during World War II. The forgotten cellar remains were discovered by chance after a fortification wall collapsed. The basement rooms, to which the mikveh belonged, were probably air raid shelters . One page was filled with messages of all kinds, they also served to search for relatives. The inscription was not retained during the reconstruction of the mikveh.

The mikvah was included in 2014 together with the old synagogue as a site of the old synagogue and mikvah in Erfurt - evidence of everyday life, religion and city history between continuity and change in the list of proposals for UNESCO World Heritage .

literature

  • Katrin Sczech: Mikveh. In: Old Synagogue and Mikveh in Erfurt. Bussert & Stadeler, Jena 2009, ISBN 978-3-932906-97-8 , pp. 70-88.
  • Katrin Sczech: The Erfurt Mikveh. In: Erfurt writings on Jewish history. Volume 1, Bussert & Stadeler, Jena 2012, ISBN 978-3-942115-17-9 , pp. 70-78.

Web links

Commons : Mikvah Erfurt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ute Hinkeldein (letter to the editor): Thuringia's Jewish heritage should become a world cultural heritage. Remembering the rediscovery of important sites in the early 1990s . Thuringian newspaper, December 17, 2018.
  2. ↑ Become a world heritage. In: juedisches-leben.erfurt.de (as of September 8, 2017).

Coordinates: 50 ° 58 '44.2 "  N , 11 ° 1' 49.4"  E