---

Press Release: Open Doors for Jewish Sites

(August 23) August 29th marks the first internationally organized "Day of Open Doors" for Jewish sites in Europe, with Jewish Communities and Tourism officials in France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Germany cooperating to stimulate a pan-European recognition of the historic and artistic legacy of Jewish culture.

Close to one hundred Jewish sites in seventy-five distinct localities, including synagogues and former synagogues, cemeteries, and museums, will be open to the public on Sunday August 29, 1999.

The international effort has developed out of a highly successful program developed in Alsace over the past three years.  The cooperative effort was planned following the international conference on Jewish Heritage in Europe held in Paris in January 1999.  "The day is a milestone in the history of Jewish culture," says Samuel Gruber, president of the International Survey of Jewish Monuments.  "Never before have so many sites, organizations, Jewish Communities and government agencies joined together in a single planned event."

Many of these sites are usually closed - either because they are privately owned, are in restoration, or because there is no funding or programming to make them accessible.  A primary aspect of "The Day of Open Doors" is to allow local populations to discover the Jewish history of their regions, but another important goal is to initiate discussion on how to make these sites more generally known, and to incorporate some of them into general and specialized tourism routes. "The big question is what comes out of all this," says Gruber.  "The hope is that this will lead to more coordinated planning and funding to allow research and access, and to provide maintenance and restoration.  Tourism officials are watching to see if there is a constituency for all this."

The French regions of Alsace and Lorraine, which boast the largest number of extant synagogue buildings and Jewish cemeteries, have taken the lead in this program.  Twenty-nine towns in Alsace will have sites open, including the newly restored 18th-century house-type synagogue in Pfaffenhoffen, and the new Jewish-Alsatian Museum in Bouxwiller.  Tours will be given of Jewish cemeteries in Ettendorf, Hegenheim, Jungholz, Koenigshoffen, Mackenheim, Marmoutier, Sarre-Union, Saverne, and Salestag.   In Mutzig the History Society of Mutzig and Merkaz presents a photo exhibit on the Jewish cemeteries of Alsace.  Ten sites will be open in Lorraine/Franche-Comte.

In Provence, the restored Rococo-style synagogue in Cavaillon and the synagogue in the papal city of Avignon, will also be open.   German and Swiss sites in the Rhineland are open, too, in Basle (Switzerland) and Busenberg/Dahn, Dierburg, Kehl, Offenburg and Sulzburg (Germany).

Among the many places where Jewish sites can be visited are Piedmont, Italy, where synagogues in Ivrea, Turin, Carmagnola, Asti, Cherasco, Allesandria and Mondavi will be open.  Carmagnola and Cherasco are both especially beautifu lexamples of Baroque syangogue design.  Elsewhere in Italy, the Jewish communities in Rome, Venice and Florence are participating in the program.  In Spain, sites in Caceres, Cordoba, Girona, Hervas, Oviedo, Ribadavia, Segovia, Toledo, Tortosa and Tudela will be open, as will be the synagogues in Barcelona and Madrid.  Programs differ in each locality, with a variety of tours, concerts, and conferences organized.

Some additional programs are scheduled in Alsace throughout the month of September.  Some of the sites open on August 29 are also open at other times of the year. For more on the Day of Open Doors" and on individual sites the following agencies can be consulted:

France
Alsace
Full information is available in French and English online at
http://www.sdv.fr/judaisme/actual/tourals/us/index.htm

Or contact:
Agence de Développement Touristique du Bas-Rhin - Catherine Lehmann -
9 rue du Dôme - 67000 Strasbourg - France
Tél. 0033 3 88 15 45 88/92  /  Fax 0033 3 88 75 67 64 -
e-mail : adt-developt@sdv.fr

Provence

Marseille
Office du Tourisme
Tél. 0033 4 91 13 89 00  /  Fax 0033 4 91 13 89 20

Comité Départemental du Tourisme
BP 147 - 84008 Avignon cedex 1
Fax 0033 4 90 86 86 08

Lorraine/Franche-Comté
Coordination Consistoire Israélite
de Moselle Tél. 0033 3 87 32 36 17

Saint-Dié
Tél. 0033 3 29 55 29 82

Belfort
Tél/Fax 03 84 28 55 41

Lunéville
Tél. 0033 3 83 74 08 07

Paris
Coordination Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme
Tél. 0033 1 53 01 86 65  /  Fax 0033 1 53 01 86 62

Germany
Kultur Agentur - Hauptstraße 92
77652 Offenburg
Fax 0049 781 9 70 86 87
e-mail : kulturagentur@t-online.de
 

Switzerland
Bâsle  Tél. 0041 612 619 514

Spain
Coordination Red de Juderias de España
Tél. 0034 629 778 448  /  Fax 0034 972 214 618
e-mail : secretaria@redjuderias.org

Italy
Coordination Communauté Israélite de Turin
Tél. 0039 011 482 101 -/  Fax 0039 011 482 513
e-mail : scueto@iol.it