From 23. 10. 2019 to January 2020 two exhibitions will be on display in the Maribor Synagogue: “History of Maribor Jews and their synagogue” and “Jewish diaspora”. Welcome!

The Maribor Synagogue is one of the oldest still standing synagogues in Europe, built by an important and wealthy medieval Jewish community in Maribor. The exhibition takes us through the history of Jews in Maribor; from their arrival in the area, life in medieval Maribor, the importance of the synagogue of Maribor, the famous Rabbi Isserlein of Maribor, the expulsion of Jews from Maribor, the Morpurgo family, up until the restoration of the synagogue.

A diaspora is a scattered population that maintains collective memory of a shared homeland. Jews have been living in Europe continuously for two thousand years through a shifting landscape of integration and segregation; dislocation and migration; tolerance and discrimination; opportunity and persecution. Although Europe has been home for Jews in different places at different times, they have also remained aware that they have another home. Jewish life, ritual, and prayer remained literally and figuratively facing East: to Jerusalem and the Land of Israel. This exhibition gives a brief overview of the fascinating story of the Jewish Diaspora in Europe, as told through selected historic and contemporary materials in the collections of the National Library of Israel.