Objects of the Monumenta Judaica
Fascinating objects

Over 2,000 objects were on display at the Zeughaus in the Monumenta Judaica exhibition. They came from the Cologne City Museum’s collection, as well as other sources worldwide. A selection of these objects is shown here. A few of the people who provided objects are presented on the next page.

Amsterdam Machzor
The richly decorated Cologne manuscript dates back to the 13th century and was read in the Cologne synagogue over 700 years ago. It is thought to be one of the oldest surviving Hebrew manuscripts from German-speaking countries. A machzor contains prayers and liturgical verses for the Jewish holidays. Despite pogroms and expulsions in the Middle Ages, the machzor was preserved and finally reached Amsterdam, where it was documented in 1669. Acquired jointly in 2017 by the Jewish Museum Amsterdam and MiQua, it will be on display in the MiQua exhibition.

Mary as temple maiden
Carved in Cologne around 1450, this wooden statue depicts the Virgin Mary as a temple maiden. It goes back to legends according to which Mary served in the Temple in Jerusalem until her espousal. It was on display in the Christian art section of the Monumenta Judaica exhibition as an example of the common history of Judaism and Christianity. Today it is part of the collection of the LVR-Landesmuseum (LVR-State Museum) in Bonn.

Seder plate
Passover is the Jewish commemoration of the exodus of the biblical Israelites from Egypt. On the first evening of the feast, the Seder, symbolic food is offered, usually arranged on special plates. This Seder plate was sold to the Rheinisches Museum in 1928 by the Jewish collector Albert Italiander.

Torah pointer
A Torah pointer – yad (hand) in Hebrew – serves as a reading aid. The reader uses it to follow the words of the Torah in the synagogue without touching the scroll with the bare hand. This yad was sold to the Rheinisches Museum along with other objects by the Cologne antiques dealer Hermann Feit.

Torah shield
The Torah shield, tas in Hebrew, is hung in front of the closed Torah scroll, ornamenting it and recalling the breastplate of the High Priest in the Jerusalem Temple. Small metal plates indicate which scroll is to be used with which section of text on the various holidays. This tas comes from the Sybilla Haber art gallery in Mülheim an der Ruhr.

Otto Freundlich, The Signs (Cologne 1919)
In addition to religious objects, paintings by well-known Jewish artists were also on display at the Monumenta Judaica exhibition, including this engraving by Otto Freundlich from his series The Signs. A painter of abstract compositions, Otto Freundlich lived in Cologne for some time. In 1919, he organised the first Dada exhibition there with Max Ernst and others. The zinc engraving dates from this period. Otto Freundlich was killed in Sobibor extermination camp in 1943 after an unsuccessful attempt to escape.