Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Alsatian Heritage and Judaism Museum occupies a Renaissance-style patrician residence built in 1590 in Marmoutier, Lower Rhine. This half-timbered building, remarkable for its oriel and roof, overlooks the Abbey Square. Its facades, oriel and polychrome painted ceilings on the ground floor have been protected under the Historic Monuments since 1932, with a confirmation in 1988. The house, partly made of crepy stone and wood, preserves architectural elements such as carved geometric motifs, high relief heads, and a shield dated 1590.

Originally, the house housed a Jewish family around 1710, where a miqvé (a ritual bath) was dug into the ground, fed by the water table. A sandstone staircase, still partially visible, gives access to it. The entrance door, which was pierced in 1760, is surmounted by a wrought iron fenced window of the same period. Michel Lévy's family occupied the area throughout the 19th century, and the mobile roof of l'oriel, formerly used to build a soukkoth (or ritual cabane), was replaced in 1983. The panelling, sculpted chambranles and painted ceilings testify to local craftsmanship.

Today, the museum presents objects related to Marmoutier's abbey, Alsatian rural life and 18th and 19th century regional Judaism. The house, owned by the commune, thus illustrates the cross-history of the Christian and Jewish communities in Alsace, through its architecture and successive uses. The protected elements, such as the lion or ceilings, emphasize its heritage importance, while the miqvé and traces of the Lévy family recall its Jewish heritage.

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