Museum Judenplatz Vienna

Judenplatz is considered a singular place of remembrance; it combines three things: Rachel Whiteread's Memorial, the excavations of a medieval synagogue and a museum about medieval Jewry; together they form a unique unit of remembrance.

Judenplatz was the center of Jewish life in Vienna during the Middle Ages. Museum Judenplatz recollects this nowadays. At the heart of the museum, which is operated by the Jewish Museum of the City of Vienna, are showrooms on medieval Jewry in Vienna, a virtual tour through the Vienna of the 14th century and excavations of the medieval synagogue. On display are the religious, cultural and social living conditions of Vienna’s Jews in the Middle Ages, through to their expulsion and the destruction of the so-called “Wiener Gesera” in 1420/21. The foundations of the synagogue destroyed at the time and selected excavation findings can be seen in the museum’s subterranean rooms. Temporary exhibitions are held on the ground floor.

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Dauerausstellung „Unser Mittelalter! Die erste jüdische Gemeinde in Wien“ — Permanent exhibition "Our Middle Ages! The First Jewish Community in Vienna" – © Ouriel Morgensztern

Ausgrabungen der mittelalterlichen Synagoge — Excavation of the medieval synagogue – © Ouriel Morgensztern

Permanent exhibition "Our Middle Ages! The First Jewish Community in Vienna" – © Ouriel Morgensztern

Excavation of the medieval synagogue – © Ouriel Morgensztern

Schoa memorial on Judenplatz

The central place of remembrance on Judenplatz is the Schoa memorial by Rachel Whiteread. The tiles set into the ground around the memorial bear the names of the places where Austrian Jews lost their lives during the Nazi period.