Bratislava, Museum of Jewish Culture

The Museum of Jewish Culture, which is a branch of the Slovak National Museum, is a prominent state-run institution focusing on Jewish heritage. Located in the Zsigray Mansion, a surviving house of Bratislava’s former Judengasse (Jewish Street), the Museum of Jewish Culture is the only reminder of the historic Jewish neighborhood, which was razed in the 1960s when the SNP Bridge was constructed. The eighteenth-century Baroque mansion was rebuilt in the nineteenth century and since 1993 has been the seat of the museum’s permanent exhibition. The exhibition was renewed and reopened in May 2009. The highlights of the museum’s collection are two valuable Chevra Kadisha jugs from the western Slovak town of Senica. Dating from 1734 and 1776, they belonged to a burial brotherhood that, as was customary in traditional Jewish communities, provided funerals to community members and assisted the bereaved. These two unique pieces, which depict scenes from Jewish burials and other activities performed by the brotherhood, were reproduced on a joint Slovak-Israeli postage stamp in 1999. The museum runs an array of activities, including special exhibitions that can be visited in its main building.

Address

Židovská 17
Bratislava

Coordinates

48°08’47.6″N
17°06’10.5″E