The Jewish Heritage of Erfurt – from coincidental finds to World Heritage

The Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Department of Auxiliary Historical Sciences and Archive Studies (Faculty of Arts, Charles University) and the Department of Middle Eastern Studies (Faculty of Arts, Charles University) cordially invite you to a lecture The Jewish Heritage of Erfurt – from coincidental finds to World Heritage. The lecture will be given by dr. Marie Stürzebecher (Erfurt). The lecture will take place on Wednesday, November 19, 2025, at 17:00, room 215 in the main building of the Faculty of Arts, Charles University (nám. Jana Palacha 1/2, Prague 1). The lecture will be given in English.

Invitation

In 2023, the Jewish Medieval Heritage of Erfurt was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List. This was preceded by a long process during which research into the history of the Jewish community in Erfurt in the Middle Ages and its material evidence was intensified. Although the significance of the Erfurt community was already known in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was not until the political and social upheavals of the 1980s and 1990s and the associated structural changes that a number of spectacular (re)discoveries were made, giving impetus to research. The lecture recounts these stories of discovery and presents the components of Erfurt‘s medieval Jewish heritage.

Photo: The Erfurt Treasure (©Thüringisches Landesamt für Archäologie und Denkmalpflege, Photo: Brigitte Stefan)