U. Nahon Museum of Italian Jewish Art

The U. Nahon Museum of Italian Jewish Art sits at 25 Hillel Street in downtown Jerusalem, in a building put up by the German Catholic Society in 1886–1887. Its heart is the synagogue of Conegliano Veneto, a town about eighty kilometres north of Venice: the gilded, carved wooden ark and the furnishings around it were brought over whole from Italy in 1951. It is not only an exhibit — Jews of Italian origin still pray there on Friday, Shabbat and holidays, in the Italian (Roman) rite, one of the oldest Jewish liturgies. The collection holds close to 3,000 items from the Jewish communities of Italy: Hanukkah lamps, Torah finials and crowns, Esther scrolls, marriage contracts, textiles and letters by Herzl, among them the oldest Torah ark in Israel, from 1543, and a Torah curtain from 1572. On the ground floor a vaulted hall, painted in 1893 with biblical scenes and verses in six languages, hosts concerts and lectures. A visit takes in the synagogue and the painted hall, and guided tours are available in several languages. A few minutes' walk from the Jaffa Center light rail stop.