Enfilade

Campo de Ghetto Novo, Venezia
(Wikimedia Commons, 2013)

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As the Ghetto in Venice turns 500 on 29 March, the city marks the anniversary with events spread throughout the year, along with a major exhibition. David Laskin provides a preview for The New York Times (9 March 2016). From the website Venice Ghetto 500:

Venice, the Jews and Europe, 1516–2016
The Doge’s Apartments, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 19 June — 13 November 2016

Curated by Donatella Calabi

The exhibition Venice, the Jews and Europe, 1516–2016 will be the highlight of the Quincentennial year of the Jewish Ghetto. Organized in collaboration with MUVE foundation of Venice in the prestigious venue of the Doge’s Palace, it will be a visible and symbolic event to mark this historic anniversary.

The exhibition, curated by Donatella Calabi, leading expert on the urban history of the Jewish Ghetto of Venice, aims at underscoring the wealth of relationships between the Jews and civic society throughout the history of their long residence 
in the lagoon, in the Veneto, and in Europe and 
the Mediterranean. It will recount the story of the Ghetto’s settlement, its growth, its architecture, 
its society, its trades, its daily life, and the relationships between the Jewish minority and the city at large, within the context of its relationships with other Jewish settlements in Europe and the Mediterranean basin.

The best of Venetian Jewish art and culture meet advanced and effective multimedia languages to show the reciprocal influence between the Jews and the society around them. (Paintings depicting biblical subjects will symbolize the age-old symbiosis between the Old Testament and the Veneto landscape). The virtual reconstruction of the Ghetto in its various historical phases will make it possible to trace the neighborhood’s development. Important, recently restored, silver ceremonial objects will help explain Jewish religious customs and traditions, fusing art and craftsmanship with culture. Books will bear witness to the extraordinary importance of Venetian Jewish printing, which was
the first in Europe, through the example of the Talmud printed in Venice first and still in use today throughout
the world.