The Art Newspaper

London's Jewish Museum reopens after £10m expansion

Its Victorian home in Camden Town has been linked to a former piano factory next door, tripling the space

By Martin Bailey. Web only
Published online: 17 February 2010

The Jewish Museum in London reopens on 17 March, after a £10m expansion project. Based in Camden Town, the original Victorian building has been linked with its neighbour, a former piano factory. Designed by Long & Kentish architects, this triples the museum’s space. Its four main galleries are devoted to an introduction, history of British Jews, Jewish faith and the holocaust.

Among the new displays are a Medieval mikveh (a Jewish ritual bath, below right) dating from the 13th century, on view for the first time since it was excavated in 2001 and a gallery dedicated to the testimony of British-born Holocaust survivor Leon Greenman OBE. The inaugural temporary exhibition, “Illumination—Hebrew Treasures from the Vatican and Major British Collections” opens on 25 June and runs until October 2010. It includes manuscripts acquired by the Vatican for its own internal scholarship, but which have never been publicly displayed. Other shows being planned will look at Jewish figures in the entertainment industry, the importance of food in Jewish culture, and comic book superheroes.

Founded in 1932, the Jewish Museum merged in 1995 with the Finchley-based London Museum of Jewish Life. They continued to run on separate sites, but have now been brought together in Camden Town. The major funder has been the Heritage Lottery Fund, which provided £4.2m.