Erfurt at the YU Museum
The Yeshiva University Museum has an exhibit of treasures from Erfurt, Germany. (hat tip)
The Yeshiva University Museum provides the only North American venue for an unusually significant exhibition of Medieval gold and silver jewelry, tableware, and rare coins discovered just a decade ago concealed within the foundation of a 12th-century house in Erfurt, Germany, a historic center of Ashkenazi Jewry.
The treasure, which scholars believe was buried by a Jewish merchant or moneylender during anti-Semitic violence, was discovered by archeologists during an excavation in the Medieval Jewish quarter of the city.
Carefully hidden under the wall of a private home’s stone cellar were over 3,000 silver coins, 14 silver ingots, and over 600 pieces of jewelry.
“Erfurt: Jewish Treasures from Medieval Ashkenaz,” on view September 8–February 9, features 167 objects including a Jewish wedding ring in the shape of a tower, unique silver drinking vessels, coins, elaborate belt buckles, and a variety of garment accessories, all dating from the late 13th and early 14th centuries.
The exhibition offers a glimpse into Jewish life and culture in medieval Europe before the Black Death and anti-Jewish persecutions decimated this small but thriving population in 1349.
There is also a conference associated with the exhibit. On Nov. 5 it will be at the YU Museum, including a lecture on Sefer Hasidim by Prof. Haym Soloveitchik, and on Nov. 6 it will be at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
November 4th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
is that a man’s or woman’s ring?
i remember seeing these great german rings in JE
November 5th, 2008 at 8:36 am
Daniel Sperber discusses these types of rings in Minhagei Yisrael, vol. IV, pp. 143-149. He thinks that they weren’t used for actual kiddushin, rather they were worn by the bride as a symbol of remembering Jerusalem and the Temple.