The Museum was first established in 1977 and housed in a small room next to the city’s synagogue. It housed objects salvaged from WW II, whether artefacts, documents and manuscripts of the 19th and 20th centuries, or the jewellery of the Jews of Thrace that had been seized by the Bulgarians in 1943. The latter had been returned to the Greek government after the abdication of the Bulgarian king and the establishment of a communist regime in the country.
The following years saw a thorough and careful collection of material from all the communities of Greece, under the inspired guidance of Nikos Stavroulakis, director of the Museum until 1993. The collection expanded with rare books and publications, textiles, jewellery, domestic and religious artifacts, thanks to the interest of several individuals.
The Museum soon began to attract the attention of many visitors, researchers and donors. In 1981, the Association of American Friends was founded, followed, a little later, by the Association of Friends of the Jewish Museum of Greece, with members of the Jewish Communities of Athens and Thessaloniki.
As the Museum’s collection grew and its activities expanded, it soon outgrew its first premises and new ones had to be found. In 1984, it moved to a rented space occupying the 3rd floor of 36, Amalias Avenue. The exhibition was reorganised into thematic units covering the interests of its various visitors. After years of efforts, the Museum acquired its legal status in 1989, as a non-profit foundation with a seven-member Board of Directors.
In the following years the Museum’s activities expanded; they involved both the research and study of the Greek Jews - in collaboration with other foundations and researchers from Greece and abroad - and publishing. At the same time, its collection was being continuously enriched with new acquisitions from all over Greece, greatly exceeding all expectations. The increasing needs of the Museum for more space, together with the dream of sometime having its own premises, led to the purchase of a 19th century neoclassical building, with the support of its Friends in Greece and abroad, the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki and the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece.
With substantial financial support from the Greek Ministry of Culture and the Associations of its Friends, the old building was renovated and, in late 1997, twenty years after it first opened its doors to the public, the Museum moved to 39 Nikis street, its new address in the centre of Athens.
On March 10th, 1998, the new building of the JMG was inaugurated and a new area begun for the Museum. In the following years it developed significantly and extended all its activities, and especially the educational ones. Also, it improved its visitors services and conducted thorough research efforts, the results of which were communicated through several temporary exhibitions and special publications. Contact and communication with the public and international relations and activities of the JMG, signal an extensive social and scientific information and influence exchange.
The original artifacts of the Museum?s collections are organised into various thematic categories. One of the largest is the category of books, which includes Prayer books, Psalms, the Torah, Commentaries on Holy Texts, Kabbalah books, as well as school books, manuals of various kinds, books of history and ethnography, works of literature and poetry, calendars and albums dating as far back as the 16th century.
Another significant and representative category is the one of costumes, which includes traditional dress (18th - 20th centuries) and urban outfits (19th - 20th centuries), men?s, women?s and children?s clothing, and a wide variety of dress accessories. There are also clothes for infants, for circumcisions and prayer. A separate sub-category includes clothes that were traditionally part of a bride?s trousseau, such as hand-sewn underwear, shirts and nightshirts, dresses and household linen and textiles, for example bed sheets, towels, quilts, pillowcases, embroideries and lace items.
Military uniforms and memorabilia make up another separate sub-category, while the Holocaust Collection includes concentration camp uniforms and a number of cloth yellow stars.
There is a large number of synagogual textiles, either for use in rituals or decoration. Their variety ensures that all kinds are represented, of both the Romaniote and the Sephardic traditions. The Jewish Museum?s collections also include several synagogual artifacts, such as menorot, tikkim, rimonim, Torah scrolls, Torah pointers, tahshitim, as well as the furnishings of the Patras synagogue.
Another category worth mentioning is the household objects, including crockery, cutlery, bowls and baking dishes, candle holders and more, as well as atrefacts for domestic rituals and worship, such as mezuzoth, hannukiyioth, spice containers, Shabbath candle holders and oil lamps.
Many rare and important items are to be found in the category of manuscripts, including circumcision certificates (alefioth), antenuptial contracts (ketuboth), Esther Scrolls (meggiloth), personal diaries, a variety of correspondence, postcards and Ottoman decrees of the 19th century. The Museum also has a great number of documents, such as certificates, identity cards, passports, immigration and military papers, telegrams, stock certificates and bonds. Many of those are part of the Holocaust Collection. The Museum also has paintings, drawings, and engravings, original photographs and negatives, children?s toys, various kinds of shoes, coins and banknotes, dedicatory inscriptions and tombstones.
Among the Museum?s collections, there are also archives of newspapers and clippings, WW II Archives, with rare historical documents, the Bulgarian Collection, containing jewellery, watches, lighters, personal items, valuables, documents, and its Collection of Works of Art.
The newly formed Art Collection of the Jewish Museum of Greece, contains contemporary works of art by Greek Jewish and non-Jewish artists, many of which have been exhibited in one or another of the Art Exhibitions frequently organised by the Museum, in its Contemporary Art Gallery. The Art Collection was formed as a response, first to the Museum?s desire to offer a more comprehensive view of its subject. Also, to the wish of its public to become acquainted - besides their history and tradition - with more aspects of the life and expression of the Greek Jews, such as their present artistic output, whether in music, literature or the fine arts. This collection also represents a widening of the scope of the Museum and a move towards artists beyond the community?s boundaries, as well as an effort to maintain and spur public interest by looking at issues of history, tradition, faith, identity, memory and coexistence from a new perspective.
fonte: @edisonmariotti #edisonmariotti http://www.jewishmuseum.gr/
colaboração Αφροδίτη Διαμαντοπούλου
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