Venice Jewish Museum to reopen after £7.5 million revamp
Museum has been closed for refurbishment and expansion for more than half a decade
The Jewish Museum in Venice is due to reopen to the public on 22 October, after being closed for six year and a multi-million-euro revamp.
Located on the main square of the historic Venice Ghetto, the museum was founded in 1953 by the few members of the Jewish community who had survived the Holocaust.
Originally located in a building next to the three oldest synagogues in the Ghetto – the German Synagogue, the Canton Synagogue and the Italian Synagogue – the museum initially comprised just two rooms used to house Judaica saved from the Nazis.
A nine million euro project to revamp and expand the museum complex was announced in July 2020, originally expected to last three years and expand the complex from 1200 to 2,000 square metres. The Italian Culture Ministry allocated €1.65 million toward the project in 2022.
Speaking to Italian Jewish news site Pagine Ebraiche, Jewish community President Dario Calimani said: “It has been years of very intense work, and we can now see the finish line. Work is going on day and night to complete what still needs to be done.”