State Museum of History of Religion

St. Petersburg Since 2000 the Museum is located in Pochtamptskaya Street, 14

The Judaic collection (Fond "Judaism") contains 1230 items (metal, wood, parchment, paper);

The collection "Precious Metals" – about 450 items;

The collection "Fabrics" - about 150 items;

The photo library and the science support collection – about 150 items.

Judaic collection of the Museum contains about 2000 items:

The vast majority of these items are Jewish ritual objects of the 18th – early 20th centuries from Central and Eastern Europe

From Judaic Collection (Department “Judaism")

Cartoons by Mendel Gorshman (1902-1972) for antireligious magazine “Bezbozhnik” (Atheist), Leningrad,1925. Ink, paper.(47 items in total)

The core of the collection of the Museum of History of Religion was formed of exhibits displayed at the Antireligious exhibition opened at the State Hermitage located in the Winter Palace

in April 1930.

The Winter Palace. Photo, May 1931.

Since 1932 till 2000,the Museum of History of Religion

had been located in the building of the Kazan Cathedral

The Kazan Cathedral. Photo, late-1930s.

In 1938, the Museum received a number of exhibits from the Antireligious Museum in St. Isaac's Cathedral.

At the exhebition in the Antireligious Museumin St. Isaac's Cathedral, 1936.In the center is the section dedicated to Judaism.

In 1946, the collection of the Museum of History of Religion in Leningrad was enlarged for account of the Moscow Central Antireligious Museum

Exhebition at the Central Antireligious Museum in Moscow, late-1930s.

In 1954, the Museum of History of Religion was officially named the State Museum of History of Religion and Atheism; In the same year it received a large number of exhibitsfrom the Moscow State Historical Museum.

The Kazan Cathedral. Photo, late-1950s.

Poster of the Antireligious exhibition at the Museum in Leningrad in 1937.

The note: “The pioneer persuades her Jewish father to remove religious garb“

Museum Permanent Exhibition 1932–1941

In the section entitled "Religion in Tsarist Russia" the synagogue was featured

as the "faithful accomplice Tsarism"

Representatives of the Kiev Jewish community presented the Torah scroll as a gift to Tsar Nikolay II. Colored photo-type, 1911

The Torah scroll which was presented

as a gift to Tsar Nikolay II

in Kiev, 1911

Permanent exhibition of 1950s – 2000s. Photo of 1960s.

The label: “Benedict Spinoza. Sculpture by M.M. Antokolsky, 1882. Gypsum. The famous materialist philosopher and atheist,

persecuted by religious obscurantism.”

In 2001 - 2010, in the museum permanent exhibition was arranged a section dedicated to Judaismof the Biblical era, as a precursor of Christianity.

Jewish ritual objects of the 18th – early 20th cent. from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as from Eretz Israel, were displayed in two showcases.

Exhibition hall of the section “Judaism”.Photo of 2012.

Plate, a pilgrim souvenir with a picture of the Western Wall.It was purchased by the Museumin Leningrad in 1950s

Decorative Plate

Palestine, Jerusalem.Early-20th cent.Porcelain, overglaze painting

Motif

The Western Wall

Sefer Torah (Torah Scroll)

Eastern Europe. Late 19th cent.Parchment; ink, carved wood, ivory

MotifThe Tablets of the Covenant

MotifLevites Laver

Torah-shield Prussia, Breslau (Wroclaw). The middle of the 18th cent. (Owner's inscription – 1835)Silver; embossing, engraving

Motifs:Moses and Aaron; Jacob Wrestling with the Angel;

Dream of Jacob;Ark of the Covenant

Torah-shield (Torah breastplate)

Central Europe. 1763.Silver; embossing, casting, engraving

Temporary ETemporary Exhibitionxhibition "Ordinary "Ordinary SSynagogue"ynagogue"

Temporary ETemporary Exhibitionxhibition “ “Ordinary Ordinary SSynagogue“ynagogue“in the Museum atrium. Photo of 2010in the Museum atrium. Photo of 2010

EExhibitionxhibition "Ordinary "Ordinary SSynagogue"ynagogue"

Design project of the exhibition“An Ordinary Synagogue”a) General viewb) Plan

View of the center of the atrium. Photo of 2010.

Issachar Ber Ryback. Synagogue, 1917.

This painting inspired the designof the exhibition.

Temporary Exhibition “The Jewish Family Relics“

Video footage of the exhibition project

Temporary Exhibition “The Jewish Family Relics”, St. Petersburg, June – September, 2011