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The medieval Jewish town center of Erfurt city in central Germany was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List on Sunday.
“The Jewish monuments of Erfurt were nearly forgotten for centuries,” said Maria Böhmer, president of the German UNESCO commission. “Their rediscovery is a great gift.”
Among the buildings included on the sought-after list were Erfurt’s Old Synagogue, a 13th-century stone building that shows medieval Jewish family life, and a traditional ritual bath, or mikveh.
The Old Synagogue was used as a storehouse and then a restaurant and dance hall. Its importance was only rediscovered and established in 1988. The ritual bath was used as a cellar for centuries and was not recognized for its historical and cultural background until 2007.
A pogrom in Erfurt in 1349 wiped out the entire Jewish community. The city believes the synagogue’s use as a warehouse and dance hall kept it from being destroyed by the Nazis.
Today, the Old Synagogue, whose earliest signs of construction date back to around 1094, houses a museum.
The site marks the second Jewish site in Germany to be protected by UNESCO, making it an important step towards honoring the common roots of Judaism and Christianity, said Kerstin Püschel, the German Ambassador to UNESCO.
This brings the number of World Heritage sites in Germany up to 52.
rm/sms (AP, DPA, AFP)
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