Author Description

The book presents the collection of Judaica of the National Museum in Krakow, Poland. The first chapter presents objects of synagogue cult and synagogue furnishings; the second, objects related to family festivals, and the third; those used during other festive rituals. The following chapter includes quite scarce prints and manuscripts, and the next one; a selection of coins, notes and medals. The last chapter includes objects falling out of the aforementioned categories and those that were difficult to qualify as Judaica. In total, the work contains 388 notes of objects that in many cases were given comprehensive glosses, in addition to basic descriptions. Except for prints and manuscripts (forming quite a random collection) and varia (too diverse to be preceded by a synthetic introduction), the remaining object groups have been given introductory notes describing individual issues and characterizing the context of the creation of the objects as well as the way they functioned in the Jewish culture. The study contains an impressive number of 600 photographs, showing selected details of the objects, as well as goldsmith and other signatures. The text is complemented with: the list of Hebrew inscriptions found on the craft objects together with their translations; the list of places the exhibits included in the study originate from, together with basic demographic and statistical data related to Jewish communities that used to inhabit them; the annex with the list of craft purchases from the years 1935-1939, i.e. a crucial period in the creation of this collection; the list of bibliographic abbreviations and index of persons. Hence, this publication meets all the requirements of a scientific literature with the critical apparatus, becoming an assistance for the researchers of this area of art.