Erfurt researched and researched for fifteen years – and then won: UNESCO has designated the Jewish-medieval heritage in Thuringia’s state capital as a new world heritage site. The UN cultural organization decided this on Sunday at its ongoing meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Among other things, several buildings in the old town were honored, including a medieval ritual bath (mikveh) that was discovered by chance around 16 years ago, the so-called stone house, which was probably built around 1250, and Erfurt’s Old Synagogue. There are now 52 World Heritage sites in Germany.
“The inclusion of the Jewish-medieval heritage in Erfurt as a new and second Jewish site on the UNESCO World Heritage List makes a further important contribution to making the common roots of Jews and Christians in Germany and Europe visible and preserving them for the future “, said Germany’s UNESCO ambassador Kerstin Püschel. The new world heritage site promotes understanding of cultural diversity in Germany and mutual respect for the complex historical heritage.
Two years ago, UNESCO honored Jewish cultural assets in Germany for the first time. The so-called Shum sites in Mainz, Worms and Speyer were given the title as a cradle of European Jewry. Erfurt’s Old Synagogue is considered one of the oldest synagogues in Central Europe that has been preserved up to the roof. After a pogrom in the city in 1349, in which the entire Jewish community of around 1,000 people was wiped out, the synagogue was initially converted into a warehouse and later used as a restaurant and dance hall. The city suspects that this was how the building was saved from destruction by the Nazis.
For Erfurt, where the meeting was broadcast as a public viewing, the recording is a unique success, and for Germany it is almost common practice. 52 German World Heritage sites have been included over the years, five of them in Thuringia alone: the Wartburg, the Bauhaus sites in Weimar, the Classic Weimar and the Hainich National Park.
The UNESCO meeting was originally supposed to take place in Russia, but was moved to Saudi Arabia because of Russia’s war against Ukraine – a state that has long had hostility to Israel and is often criticized for anti-Semitism.