The history of the Jewish Community of Naples on display at the State Archives through photographs and period documents
The exhibition was set up in the Filangieri Room of the State Archives "The Jewish Community of Naples, 1864/2014: 150 years of history", which can be visited already from the 14 last January and will be open until February 28 2015.
The exhibition has been arranged in the spaces of the Chiostro del Platano and proposes the same exhibition proposed last November at the National Museum, but expanded and revised.
The history of the Neapolitan Jewish Community of the last 150 years will be told through the stories of illustrious personalities, such as the German Rothschild bankers, and with the support of photographs, documents, texts and liturgical objects.
An interesting story to know, also because the Jewish community of Naples is the southernmost of the peninsula, being the only one located south of that of Rome.
The history of the Rothschild family, in particular, it is widely covered as German bankers played a fundamental role in the community renaissance in the city. They were the first to rent the spaces where the Synagogue currently stands and on display are the letters exchanged between the brothers James and Carl with the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, a correspondence that reveals the loan agreement agreed with the monarchs. Furthermore, the maps and prospectuses relating to their bank opened in the Chiaia area, where today there is the Villa Pignatelli, are exhibited.
But the exhibition will also introduce us to the life and business of important entrepreneurs and rabbis, such as the Rabbi Kahn, the first to study the role of the Jews in Pompeii and among the Romans, and the entrepreneur Giorgio Ascarelli, founder of Calcio Napoli.
One of the most interesting and exciting sections is dedicated to racial laws, in which the story of the Procaccia family will be told, fleeing from Naples to Lucca and deported from there to the Auschwitz extermination camp. Documents on the post-war rebirth will also be on display, through the events and testimonies of illustrious figures, such as Cardinal Ursi, the first Man of the Church to visit a Synagogue in the 1966.
The exhibition was organized with the support of the President of the Republic, the patronage of the Campania Region, the Union of Italian Jewish Communities and the Jewish Cultural Heritage Foundation. It is among the events for the 2015 Memorial Day in Naples.
Information on the Jewish Community Exhibition in Naples
When: from the 14 January to the 28 February 2015
Where: Cloister of Platano, State Archives of Naples, Piazzetta Grande Archivio 5
Timetables: Monday and Thursday at 9.30 and 11.30
Price: free entry
Info: guided visits to the exhibition by reservation tel. 0815638256, e-mail: as-na@beniculturali.it
For schools 0817643480 - napoliebraica@gmail.com
