Museum of Jewish Heritage

The Museum of Jewish Heritage is a museum located near the Hudson River in Lower Manhattan. It was created to commemorate those who perished in the Holocaust. The hexagonal shape and tiered roof of the building are symbolic of the six points of the Star of David and the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. It opened September 15, 1997. Director is David Marwell.

In addition to a large permanent exhibit on the Holocaust entitled The War Against the Jews, it also contains two other permanent exhibits on Jewish culture: Jewish Life a Century Ago, and Jewish Renewal. The three permanent exhibits are arranged chronologically, with Jewish Life A Century Ago on the first floor, The War Against the Jews on the second floor, and Jewish Renewal (focusing on contemporary Jewish culture, especially Israel) on the third floor.

Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York City
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Museum_of_Jewish_Heritage_004.jpg
Author: Gryffindor


Temporary exhibits and Safra Hall, a theater, are to be found in the Robert M. Morgenthau wing. The current temporary exhibits are A Blessing to One Another: Pope John Paul II and the Jewish People and From the Heart: The Photojournalism of Ruth Gruber. There is also a memorial garden, "Garden of Stones" designed by Andy Goldsworthy, in this wing. The garden consists of 18 boulders, each with a dwarf oak sapling growing from inside the hollowed-out stone. They symbolize resiliency. The number 18 was chosen specifically because the Hebrew word for life, chai, has a numerological value of 18.

Monitors, speakers, and projectors playing interviews of relevant persons punctuate the exhibits. 800 artifacts (many of them personal belongings) and 2,000 photographs are on display.

Exhibits in the Museum of Jewish Heritage
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Museum_Jews_of_Brest_1e.jpg
Author: Vadim Akopyan


In 2005, the museum was among 406 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.

As of 2005, Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau is the chairman of the Museum. The Museum is affiliated with the Auschwitz Synagogue in Os'wie;cim Poland; and with JewishGen, the premier online site for researching Jewish roots.

Getting there

The Museum of Jewish Heritage is near Battery Park. Take the 4 or 5 train to the Bowling Green Subway Station and walk from there.

Related Site

Visitors to this museum may also be interested in visiting the Jewish Museum.

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