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The Mikveh, which was excavated in Milk Street |
Jewish Museum secures 13th-century artefact
A MEDIEVAL artefact dug up from the City of London will be a centre-piece of a new museum due to open in Camden Town next year.
The Jewish Museum, in Albert Street, has been closed for the best part of 2008 as it undergoes a multi-million pound renovation.
And this week Jenny Abramsky, as the new chairwoman of the Heritage Lottery Fund toured the building, it was revealed that an 800-year-old Jewish artefact had been secured.
The ritual bath, known as a Mikveh,
was excavated by archaeologists in Milk Street, in the City.
Historians discovered it dated from around the 13th century, and illustrates the long history of London Jewry.
The Mikveh was found beneath a home occupied by a wealthy Jewish family, the Crespins, until the 1290 Expulsion.
Other Jewish families are known to have lived on the same and neighbouring streets, and pottery and other finds had been made in the vicinity.
Speaking of the relic, museum director Rickie Burman said: “The presence of the mikveh provides an excellent beginning for the long history of Britain’s Jewish communities, which is told within the Museum.
“The mikveh will have an important role in illustrating in a very tangible way the long history of the Jewish community in England, as one of the country’s oldest minority communities, and it will provide an excellent beginning for our story of Jewish life in Britain.
“It will be displayed on the ground floor of the extended museum, where the design team also plan to use its
‘living waters’ quality to evoke its spiritual and renewing role in Judaism.
“Other medieval objects, including items excavated by the
Museum of London from the same archaeological context, will complement the mikveh and help to evoke the history of life in England’s medieval Jewish community.” |
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