View source for Manchester Jewish Museum

{{Short description|Jewish museum in Manchester, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2025}}
{{Redirect|Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue (Manchester)||Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue (disambiguation){{!}}Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue}}
{{Infobox museum
| name               = Manchester Jewish Museum
| image              = Manchester Jewish Museum (geograph 4749574).jpg
| image_upright      = 1.4
| alt                = 
| caption            = The Manchester Jewish Museum, in 2015
| map_type           = Greater Manchester
| map_relief         = 1
| map_size           = 250
| map_caption        = Location of the museum in [[Greater Manchester]]
| map_dot_label      = 
| coordinates        = {{coord|53.495833|-2.238333|region:GB_type:landmark|display=it|format=dms}}
| former_names       = {{ubl|Sha'are Tephillah Synagogue|Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue}}<!-- or |former_names= -->
| established        = <!-- {{start date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}} -->
| dissolved          = <!-- {{end date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}} -->
| location           = 190 Cheetham Hill Road, [[Manchester]], England
| type               = [[Jewish museum|Jewish history museum]]
| website            = {{url|manchesterjewishmuseum.com}}
| embedded           = {{Infobox historic site
| embed = yes
| designation1 = Grade II*
| designation1_offname = Manchester Jewish Museum
| designation1_type = Listed building 
| designation1_criteria = 
| designation1_date = 3 October 1974
| delisted1_date = 
| designation1_partof = 
| designation1_number = 1208472<ref name=NHLE>{{NHLE|num=1208472 |desc=Manchester Jewish Museum |date=3 October 1974 |grade=II* |access-date=12 May 2024}}</ref>
}}
}}
{{Infobox religious building
| name                  = Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue
| image_upright         = 1.4
| caption               = The former synagogue, now museum, in 2008
| religious_affiliation = [[Orthodox Judaism]] {{small|(former)}}
| rite                  = [[Nusach Sefard]]
| status                = {{nowrap|[[Synagogue]] {{small|(1874–1984)}}}}
| functional_status     = {{ubl|{{nowrap|'''Closed''' {{small|(as a synagogue);}}}}|Repurposed {{small|(as a museum)}}}}
| location              = 190 Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester
| architect             = [[Edward Salomons]]
| architecture_type     = {{nowrap|[[Synagogue architecture]]}}
| architecture_style    = [[Moorish Revival architecture|Moorish Revival]]
| year_completed        = 1874
| module                =
| footnotes             = <ref name=JCR>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishgen.org/JCR-UK/Community/m25_span-port/index.htm |title=Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue |website=JewishGen and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain |date=2 July 2017 |access-date=12 May 2024}}</ref>
}} 
The '''Manchester Jewish Museum''' is a [[Jewish museum|Jewish history museum]], located on Cheetham Hill Road in [[Manchester]], England. The museum occupies the site of a former [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] [[Judaism|Jewish]] [[synagogue]], the place of worship for the '''Congregation of Spanish & Portuguese Jews''', called the '''Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue''', also the '''Sha'are Tephillah Synagogue'''. The congregation worships in the [[Nusach Sefard|Sephardic]] [[Nusach (Jewish custom)|rite]] from premises located on Moor Lane in [[Kersal]], [[Salford]].<ref name=JCR/>

The building, used as a synagogue from 1874 until 1984, was [[Grade II* listed buildings in Greater Manchester|listed as Grade II*]] in 1974.<ref name=NHLE/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.visitmanchester.com/what-to-do/museum/MAN-203171_manchesterjewis |title=Manchester Jewish Museum |website=Visit Manchester |access-date=5 December 2015 |archive-date=5 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405063927/http://www.visitmanchester.com/what-to-do/museum/MAN-203171_manchesterjewis |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==History==
The former synagogue for [[Spanish and Portuguese Jews]] was completed in 1874. However, the building became redundant through the migration of the Jewish population away from the [[Cheetham (civil parish)|Cheetham]] area further north to [[Prestwich]] and [[Whitefield, Greater Manchester|Whitefield]]. It re-opened as a museum in March 1984 telling the story of the [[history of Jewish settlement in Manchester]] and its community over more than 200 years.

The museum reopened on 2 July 2021 following a {{GBP|£}}6&nbsp;million redevelopment and extension. The museum includes a new gallery, vegetarian café, shop and learning studio and kitchen, as well as complete restoration of the former Spanish and Portuguese synagogue.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2 July 2021 |title=Manchester Jewish Museum reopens after £6m refurb |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-57683953 |access-date=11 August 2021}}</ref>

Following completion of the renovation works, the Manchester Jewish Museum won two awards at the annual British Construction Industry Awards (Cultural and Leisure Project of the Year and Best Small Project of the Year) alongside architects Citizens Design Bureau and structural engineers [[Buro Happold]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.live-manchester.co.uk/manchester-jewish-museum-wins-two-awards-following-renovation/ |title=Manchester Jewish Museum wins two awards following renovation |website=Live-Manchester |date=19 October 2021 |access-date=7 March 2025}}</ref>

The museum holds over 31,000 items in its collection, documenting the story of Jewish migration and settlement in Manchester. It includes over 530 oral history testimonies, over 20,000 photographs, 138 recorded interviews with Holocaust survivors and refugees and other objects, documents and ephemera.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Manchester Jewish Museum — Collection |url=https://www.manchesterjewishmuseum.com/collection/ |access-date=11 August 2021 |website=Manchester Jewish Museum}}</ref>

==Moorish Revival building==
The 1874 synagogue was completed in the [[Moorish Revival architecture|Moorish Revival]] style, designed by [[Edward Salomons]], a prominent Manchester architect. Although the synagogue was not the largest or most magnificent of the world's many Moorish Revival synagogues, which include the opulent [[Princes Road Synagogue]] in [[Liverpool]], it was considered to be a "jewel".<ref name=Meek>{{cite book |author=Meek, H. A. |title=The Synagogue |publisher=Phaidon |location=London |year=1995 |pages=199, 202 |isbn=0-7148-2932-3}}</ref> The style, a homage to the architecture of [[Moorish Spain]], perhaps seemed particularly fitting for the home of a [[Sephardic]] congregation. The two tiers of horseshoe windows on the [[façade]] were emblematic of the style, and the recessed doorway and arcade of five windows on the floor above the entrance are particularly decorative. Inside, a horseshoe arch frames the [[aron kodesh|heichal]] and polychrome columns support the galleries. The [[Mashrabiya|mashrabiyya]] latticework on the front doors is particularly fine.<ref name=Meek/><ref>{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Bill |title=The Making of Manchester Jewry 1740–1875 |publisher=Manchester University Press |location=Manchester |year=1976 |isbn=0-7190-0631-7}}</ref>

==See also==
{{stack|{{portal|Greater Manchester|Judaism|Museums}}}}
* [[History of the Jews in England]]
* [[List of former synagogues in the United Kingdom]]
* [[Listed buildings in Manchester-M8]]
* [[Grade II* listed buildings in Greater Manchester]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Manchester Jewish Museum}}
* {{official website|http://www.manchesterjewishmuseum.com/}}

{{Manchester B&S}}
{{Museums and galleries in Greater Manchester}}
{{Synagogues in the United Kingdom}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1984 establishments in England]] 
[[Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Manchester]]
[[Category:Grade II* listed religious buildings and structures]]
[[Category:Jewish museums in the United Kingdom|Manchester]]
[[Category:Jewish organizations established in 1984]]
[[Category:Jews and Judaism in Manchester]]
[[Category:Museums established in 1984]]
[[Category:Museums in Manchester]]
[[Category:Religious museums in England]]