Title & Author:

The Precious legacy : Judaic treasures from the Czechoslovak state collections / edited by David Altshuler.

Publication:

New York : Summit Books ; Washington [D.C.] : Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, ©1983.

Description:

288 pages, 1 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 26 cm

Notes:
A catalogue for the traveling museum exhibition of Judaic objects from the State Jewish Museum in Prague.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 280-284) and index.
The precious legacy / Linda A. Altshuler, Anna R. Cohn -- Autonomy and independence: the historical legacy of Czech Jewry / Hillel J. Kieval -- Symbols of the legacy : community life / Vivian B. Mann -- Symbols of the legacy : family and home / Vivian B. Mann -- The legacy of tragedy and transcendence / Linda A. Altshuler, Anna R. Cohn.

Summary:

"The collection of the Czechoslovak State Jewish Museum in Prague is a unique respository of historic artifacts, artistic rarities, and cultural memories. These objects document the vitality and significance of Czech Jewry, which has flourished for a millennium at the crossroads of East and West and is the oldest continuous Jewish community in Europe. One hundred fifty-three local Jewish communities in Bohemia and Moravia were devastated during the Holocaust, and thus the Prague Museum bears eloquent testimony to a world virtually snuffed out just one generation ago. This book brings to American audiences their first glimpse of this extraordinary collection of Judaica in conjunction with an exhibition that is touring our nation's major museums under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. The unparalleled size and scope of the Prague collection-- some 140,000 treasures in all-- derive from an ironic twist of fate. From 1942 to 1945, the Nazis confiscated Jewish possessions of artistic and historical value throughout Bohemia and Moravia, and while the Jews of these lands were deported to captivity and death, these artifacts were shipped to Prague. There the Nazis intended to establish a "museum to an extinct race," a pathological "research" and propaganda "institute" that would justify to the world the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question." While nearly all of European Jewry vanished during the Holocaust, Prague was spared from wartime destruction, as was the collection of Judaica that by war's end filled eight historic Jewish sites and more than fifty warehouses throughout the city. Teams of distinguished scholars from the United States and Czechoslovakia participated in the research and writing of this text, which includes studies of the historic and religious legacy of Czech Jewry as well as a catalogue of the landmark exhibition "The Precious Legacy." The volume is magnificently designed, depicting beautiful textiles, oil paintings, glassware, porcelain, precious metals, printed books and illuminated manuscripts in 75 full-color and 150 black-and-white illustrations. These photographs and essays together bear witness to the continuity and beauty of Jewish culture, a tradition that sanctifies life and transcends tragedy and death" --Back cover.

ISBN:

0671494481
9780671494483
0671494988 (pbk.)
9780671494988 (pbk.)

Subject:

Státní židovské muzeum (Czech Republic) Catalogs.
Státní zidovské muzeum (Tchécoslovaquie) Catalogues.
Státní židovské muzeum (Czech Republic)
Židovské muzeum v Praze Catalogs.
Prag Jüdisches Museum in Prag.
Jews Czechoslovakia Exhibitions.
Judaism Liturgical objects Exhibitions.
Jews Czechoslovakia.
Juifs Tchécoslovaquie Expositions.
Judaïsme Objets liturgiques Expositions.
Juifs Tchécoslovaquie.
Ethnic relations
Jews
Judaism Liturgical objects
Geschichte
Ausstellung
Kultur
Cultuur.
Joden.
Jews Czech Republic Exhibitions.
Judaism Liturgical objects Catalogs.
Czechoslovakia Ethnic relations.
Tchécoslovaquie Relations interethniques.
Czechoslovakia
Tschechoslowakei
Böhmen
Juden.

Form/genre:

Exhibition.
Exhibition catalogues.
Exhibition catalogs.
exhibition catalogs.
Catalogs
Catalogues d'exposition.

Added entries:

Altshuler, David A.
Mazal Holocaust Collection.
Státní židovské muzeum (Czech Republic)

Holdings:

Location: Library main 144261
Call No.: ID:87-B1064
Status: Available