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Origin and history

The Strasbourg mikvé is a medieval Jewish ritual bath, the only architectural witness in situ of the Strasbourg Jewish community of the Middle Ages. Discovered in 1985 during renovation work, it was known by a local oral tradition designating the place as Zum Judenbad (In the Bath of the Jews) from the end of the sixteenth century. Its preservation was allowed thanks to a six-month archaeological excavation campaign initiated after the intervention of the Society of the Israel of Alsace and Lorraine (SHIAL) with the Minister of Culture Jack Lang. These excavations revealed a public mikve integrated into a synagogue, as well as a second private mikve located in a nearby house, Jewish street.

The construction of the mikve probably dates back to around 1200, shortly after the arrival of the first Jews in Strasbourg around 1150, coming from the Palatinate (Mayence, Spire, Worms). The Jewish community, then flourishing and made up mainly of traders, saw its situation deteriorate in the 14th century, marked by persecutions and massacres, especially during the black plague of 1349. In 1391, Strasbourg definitively expelled his Jews, banning their residence for four centuries, until the French Revolution. After their departure, the mikvé was transformed into a well, whose remains were also discovered during the excavations.

Architecturally, the mikvé presents itself as a square room in 3 meters grey sandstone, surmounted by a vault in the cradle of red bricks. Four Romanesque consoles adorn the corners under the vault, and a circular zenithal orifice of 0.90 m in diameter pierces the ceiling, possibly used to collect rainwater. The central basin, fed by the water table (now 8 meters deep), contained the ritual purification water. A sandstone staircase, partially reused for the later well, led to the tablecloth. Two mural niches were used to lay candles, and a wooden layout at the bottom of the basin, dating from the 11th–12th centuries, suggested a formwork of support.

The mikvé was listed for historical monuments on 15 November 1985, after its rediscovery. Today, it is accessible under conditions, with guided tours organized on certain days by the Directorate of Culture of the City of Strasbourg. The site also includes an adjacent undressing room and the remains of the well filled, a witness to the transformations after the expulsion of the Jews. Its exceptional state of conservation makes it a rare testimony of religious practices and Jewish community life in medieval Alsace.

The memory of the mikve was preserved by a local appellation, Zum Judenbad, attested from the end of the sixteenth century to designate no. 19 of the Jewish street. This toponymic persistence, despite the physical disappearance of the bath, illustrates the lasting anchoring of the Jewish community in the Strasbourg landscape, far beyond its expulsion. The 1985 excavations confirmed the hypothesis of a public mikve, distinct from a second private bath located in a nearby house, Jewish street, stressing the importance of purification rites in the daily and religious life of medieval Jews.

The Strasbourg mikveh is part of a historical context marked by waves of persecution, especially during the black plague of 1349, where Jews were accused of spreading the disease. The ensuing massacre, followed by the final expulsion in 1391, erased for four centuries any official Jewish presence in Strasbourg. The rediscovery of the Mikvé in 1985 thus filled a major gap in knowledge of the Alsatian Jewish heritage, providing a tangible link with a disappeared community whose legacy had survived mainly through written sources and oral traditions.

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