Fodor's Expert Review Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
In a granite 85-foot-tall hexagon at the southern end of Battery Park City, this museum aims to educate visitors on the "broad tapestry of Jewish life in the 20th and 21st centuries—before, during, and after the Holocaust." Architects Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo designed the six-sided museum to be symbolic of the Star of David, and its three floors of exhibits demonstrate the dynamism of Jewish culture. Visitors enter through a gallery that provides context for the early-20th-century artifacts on the first floor: an elaborate screen hand-painted for the fall harvest festival of Sukkoth, tools used by Jewish tradesmen, and wedding invitations. Other exhibits present the rise of Nazism and anti-Semitism and the ravages of the Holocaust. Signs of hope are also on display, including a trumpet that Louis Bannet, “the Dutch Louis Armstrong,” played for three years in the Auschwitz-Birkenau inmate orchestra. The third floor covers postwar Jewish life. The museum's east wing has a theater,... READ MORE
In a granite 85-foot-tall hexagon at the southern end of Battery Park City, this museum aims to educate visitors on the "broad tapestry of Jewish life in the 20th and 21st centuries—before, during, and after the Holocaust." Architects Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo designed the six-sided museum to be symbolic of the Star of David, and its three floors of exhibits demonstrate the dynamism of Jewish culture. Visitors enter through a gallery that provides context for the early-20th-century artifacts on the first floor: an elaborate screen hand-painted for the fall harvest festival of Sukkoth, tools used by Jewish tradesmen, and wedding invitations. Other exhibits present the rise of Nazism and anti-Semitism and the ravages of the Holocaust. Signs of hope are also on display, including a trumpet that Louis Bannet, “the Dutch Louis Armstrong,” played for three years in the Auschwitz-Birkenau inmate orchestra. The third floor covers postwar Jewish life. The museum's east wing has a theater, memorial garden, library, galleries, and café. A free audio guide, with narration by Meryl Streep and Itzhak Perlman, is available at the admissions desk.
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