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Camden New Journal - By DAN CARRIER
Published: 3 May 2007

Lottery boost for Jewish museum plan

A MULTI-million pound project is underway to bring a major new museum to the heart of Camden Town.
The Jewish Museum, based in Albert Street, has won a £4m grant from the Lottery Heritage Fund to double the size of its home and create a new exhibition space that will be dedicated to telling the stories of all minority communities in Britain.
The museum has bought a Victorian piano factory behind its current home and plans to link the two together.
The new site will allow the museum to bring their collections under one roof. Currently, one section of the museum – dealing with the social history of British Judaism – is based in Finchley, while the Albert Street site has a collection of religious artefacts that have been designated by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council as being of “outstanding national importance”.
The museum was first established in Bloomsbury in 1932 and moved to Albert Street in the late 1980s.
The extra space will allow the museum to mount permanent exhibitions and have areas for special one-off shows.
Museum director Rickie Burman said: “This is the perfect way to expand, and will help with our brief to celebrate London’s multi-cultural heritage.”
Highlights include interactive displays tracing the history of the Jewish community in Britain.
There will be a mock-up of an East End street using the latest in technology to recreate the atmosphere, and there will also be a tailors workshop.
A 100-seater auditorium will host lectures and a museum cafe is also planned.
Work is due to start this autumn and will take an estimated 18 months to complete.
In the meantime, the museum will be hosting touring exhibitions and is looking for a temporary home for their education centre.

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