Online event - February, 12

After five years, the #ItaliaEbraica project is renewed and becomes Jewish Italy around the world. Each month we will get to know a new museum and discover the paths that connect distant places with our ‘Jewish Italy.’
Each International Jewish Museum will present online on Zoom an object or a masterpiece from its collection that tells a part of Italian history.

The fourth meeting will be held on zoom on Thursday, February 12th at 6:30 (Italian time) and will be dedicated to the presentation of Quincentennial Foundation Museum of Turkish Jews in Istanbul and will be followed by a lecture on Italian Jews in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey. 
In service since 2001, the Quincentennial Foundation Museum Of Turkish Jews was opened in the Zülfaris Synagogue as part of the celebration program of the Quincentennial Foundation. Since December 2015, it has been welcoming its visitors in its new location, Neve Shalom Synagogue, with its updated content and modern exhibition technologies.
The presence of Italian Jews in Constantinople and Edirne dates back to Byzantine times. After the conquest of Edirne than of Constantinople by the Ottomans, this presence was enlarged by new arrivals from Italian city states. Known as “the Francos”, this community never assimilated with other local Jewish communities and by mid-19th century, founded an official community named “Comunità Israelitico-Straniera di Costantinopoli sotto la protezione Italiana”  or “The Foreign Jewish Community of Costantinopoli under the Italian protection”.
This talk will attempt to share the development of this community in some Ottoman cities throughout their history.

Greetings from Amedeo Spagnoletto – Director of MEIS

Speaker:

Nisya İsman Allovi, Director and Curator of The Quincentennial Foundation Museum of Turkish Jews

Metin Delevi, Consultant at the Jewish Museum and member of the Board of Consultants of the Chief Rabbinate of Turkey

The meeting will be in English with simultaneous translation into Italian.
If you want to attend the event, click here and fill out the form

Crediti immagine/ Credits: Italian Synagogue in Istanbul. Photo by Izzet Keribar