Fragments of Memory

The exhibition explores the material expressions of devotion, memory, and sacred space in Jewish and Christian communities of medieval and early modern Central Europe, highlighting moments of artistic cross-fertilization, shared iconography, and theological divergence. Specially designed and organized for the Jewish Museum’s galleries, Fragments of Memory features extraordinary reliquaries from the treasury of St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague—most never exhibited in the United States. Bejeweled and sacred vessels of veneration, medieval reliquaries are at once works of art from their time and place of production as well as physical containers of remarkable beauty. They are presented in dialogue with objects from the Museum’s own holdings, as well as important loans from public collections across Europe and the United States, including Torah ornaments, liturgical textiles, illuminated manuscripts, ceremonial vessels, and rare medieval Jewish hoards hidden underground during the Black Death of the late 1340s when Jews endured violence and uprooting. Works by four contemporary artists address related themes in the present day.