Threshold to the Sacred: The Ark Door of Cairo’s Ben Ezra Synagogue

Threshold to the Sacred: The Ark Door of Cairo’s Ben Ezra Synagogue focuses on a work of exceptional historical importance jointly owned by the Walters Art Museum and the Yeshiva University Museum: an intricately decorated and inscribed wood panel from a Torah ark, a special cupboard that holds the sacred Jewish scripture. The panel is believed to come from the famous Ben Ezra synagogue of Old Cairo (Fostat), Egypt, which has captivated public imagination for over a century. Associated with the famous medieval thinker Moses Maimonides (1135–1204), the Ben Ezra synagogue is the site of the great 19th-century discovery of the Cairo Geniza, a treasure trove of documents on medieval Jewish life around the Mediterranean. This exhibition presents Geniza documents, photographs of the Ben Ezra synagogue, and art from Jewish and Muslim artisans, together with conservation science research, to relate the fascinating ‘object biography’ of the Walters-Yeshiva ark door.

A version of this exhibition will travel to the Yeshiva University Museum (New York City) October 27, 2013–February 23, 2014.