Contribute by: Prof. Paola Bellomi, Associate Professor of Spanish Literature, University of Siena
DISCOVER SEFARAD: Photographic exhibition on the Spanish Giudecche
OPENING: Thursday 29 September 2022 – 5.30 pm
Cloister of San Galgano Palace – Via Roma 47, Siena
On 29 September 2022, on the occasion of BRIGHT Night of Research 2022, double appointment for the opening of the photographic exhibition “Discovering Sefarad”, promoted by the Department of Philology and Criticism of Ancient and Modern Literature of the University of Siena, in collaboration with the Red de Juderías de España / Caminos de Sefarad and the Jewish Community of Florence – Siena section.
The exhibition is set up at the Humanistic Area Library of Siena (Via di Fieravecchia, 19) and at the Synagogue of Siena in Vicolo delle Scotte, 14.
The inauguration will be attended by Marta Puig Quixal, director of the Red de Juderías de España / Caminos de Sefarad, Anna di Castro, head of the Steering Committee of the Jewish Museum of Siena, Roberta Ascrelli, professor of German literature at DFCLAM and president of the Friendship Association Jewish-Christian, Paola Bellomi, professor of Spanish literature at DFCLAM and responsible for the ESTHER project, and Eleonora Bassi, director of the Humanistic Area Library of Siena.
The event avails itself of the collaboration of Elisa Venticinque (MATRA), Elisa Niccolai (MATRA) and Francesca Fanton.
The exhibition is made up of images depicting some of the numerous Giudecche present in the Spanish cities that form the “Red de Juderías de España / Caminos de Sefarad”. In the BAUMS headquarters it will also be possible to consult part of the rich book heritage preserved in the library linked to Sephardic, Ashkenazi and Italian Judaism.
The exhibition helps to understand, through the evocative power of images, the importance that Jewish culture had in the Iberian Peninsula before and after the expulsion of the Jews decreed by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492 and reminds us of the drama of the Sephardi diaspora and the consequences which he also had for Tuscan history and culture; it also contributes to the enhancement of the tangible and intangible heritage of Iberian Judaism.
European Jewish History Project 