A Season of Trailblazers
Reimagine
Reset
Reconnect
Manchester Jewish Museum
UPCOMING
Artists in the Archives
Over summer 2020, we paired up some of our Artists’ Network to talk about how they re-imagine archives in their work. We invite you to watch these joyous, touching and intimate conversations (including dancing in the garden!)
Reimagine – Reset – Reconnect
Manchester Jewish Museum is re-emerging and transforming. In the lead-up to our historic building’s reopening in Spring 2021, we present a season of treats and sneaky peeks.
What Does the Future Sound Like?
Join musician Francesca Ter Berg and producer Laura Seddon, with special guests Carol Isaacs, Anna Lowenstein, Polina Shepherd and Ana Silvera, as together they explore transforming traditions and creating musical identities, accessing memory to imagine a future, caring for the stories we tell as well as for each other.
Our mission
We are a place to experience and explore how we are different, together.
Here, you can bake, sing, laugh, dance, cook, cry, get messy and make friends.
Using our collection and synagogue we connect Jewish stories, culture and traditions to the wider world. In doing so, we bring people together, showing we have more in common than separates us.
We make connections to make things better.
Our new building
We will re-open next Spring with a new building, twice the size as before. Our synagogue will also have been repaired, refurbished and its original decorative features reinstated.
Designed by award-winning architects, Citizens Design Bureau, our extension will include a new gallery, learning studio & kitchen, collection store, shop and cafe.
A new gallery, designed by All Things, will showcase our collection based around the themes of journeys, communities and identities.
MOORISH RESTORATION
Opened in 1874 by Jewish textile merchants from Spain & Portugal, our synagogue was inspired by Mediterranean Moorish architecture, including the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain.
We are now restoring and preserving this Moorish architecture.
Over the past year, historic paint specialists have analysed paint samples and researched earlier decorative schemes. The original scheme is now being restored and Moorish motifs reinstated on columns, pews and the Ark, helping us connect closer to our synagogue’s past.
Coming Soon
Eat the Archives
Join Theatre Chef Leo Burtin on a culinary journey through our archives, where stories come alive through eating together and good conversation.
Historic Jewish Quarter Experience
Experience Cheetham Hill Road as never before as the Bare Project Theatre Company invite you on a multi-sensory walk around Manchester’s historic Jewish quarter.
Upcoming Exhibitions
Explore our plans for upcoming exhibitions when the Museum repoens in 2021
July 2019
February 2020
April 2020
July 2020
November 2020
COLLECTION
“An outstanding collection with certain exceptional resources richer and rare, if not unique, among European Jewish museums”
We hold over 31,000 items in our collection, documenting the story of Jewish migration and settlement in Manchester. From 18th century pedlars to Holocaust Survivors and 20th century refugees, the collection reflects each wave of Jewish migration into Manchester.
- Over 530 oral history testimonies
- Over 20,000 photographs
- 138 recorded interviews with Holocaust Survivors and refugees
- A wide-ranging collection of objects, documents and ephemera
OURS AND YOURS
LEARNING
Our engaging and informative learning sessions offer amazing opportunities for booked groups of all ages to learn about faith, culture and history.
Whether it’s baking bread in our learning kitchen or playing detective with real museum objects, your learners should expect the unexpected when visiting this historic synagogue with a difference.
MUSEUM COMMUNITY
We have a growing community of artists, song-writers, textile enthusiasts, local residents and cultural and community partners.
Our song-writing group is for anyone interested in music. We write songs together inspired by the unique and yet universal stories of Jewish Mancunians in the museum’s collection.
Our textile group comprises women of all faiths and backgrounds. Currently midway through their newest project, the group are creating a large-scale textile piece to be hung in the new museum.
Our community groups are a great opportunity to meet other people to share stories and cultural traditions – and we are always looking for new members.
ARTIST’S NETWORK
Our Artists’ Network is for anyone who uses Jewish themes in their arts practice or is interested in making work in archives and heritage settings.