(Hi)story with Celina - the Jewish Museum Vienna for at home
Travel with Celina around the world
If you can’t or don’t want to travel far, you can accompany Celina on her world tours in the Jewish Museum Vienna. She walks through the floors and travels from Vienna around the globe. Once you can come to visit us at the museum again, then look for her usual spot in the museum and take a photo of her. Because Celina loves photos. And so do we.
Celina works at night. Because nighttime in the museum is the most exciting time. Things namely speak at night. Only at night. They tell who they are and where they come from, who made them, who used them or who gave them to the Jewish Museum. Learning the language of objects in the showcases has taken some time. Celina doesn’t understand everything yet, but that will work out, everything takes time. Sometimes the objects in the showcases don’t say anything, because they can’t remember anything or have forgotten their story. Some of these items have therefore become very quiet and shy; they are often in the second row of the showcase. Celina knows she is not allowed to do that – but sometimes she would like to take things from the second and third rows and place them in the front row. Even if they don’t know their story themselves or if the museum people didn’t have the opportunity to find this story, there always is a story!
Image © JMW
Celina celebrates Passover
From March 27 to April 4, 2021, Jewish women and men all over the world celebrate the Passover festival, commemorating the Exodus from Egypt and the liberation from Egyptian slavery. When you flee, you don't have time for complicated things – like baking bread, for example, because it simply takes too long. This is how a special type of bread was created, the mazzot or mazzes or matzo, especially if you only had one thing in your hand. Celina knows almost everything about Passover and this year she would like to focus on this special type of bread. There are 108 matzo-themed objects in the museum’s object database, but that would be too many. Therefore, Celina is presenting this special one to you, which is also on display at the museum:
Image © JMW
On the first evening of the Passover festival, called the Seder, a number of symbolic foods are eaten – all of which have to do with the story of the Exodus from Egypt. A Seder centerpiece combines the six dishes – in the bowls at the top – with the three pieces of matzo. Behind the cloth there are three “plate floors,” upon each of which you put a piece of matzo. The matzo consists only of flour and water and takes a maximum of 18 minutes to prepare.
The six foods on the plate are: green herbs, bitter herbs, a hard-boiled egg, a lamb or chicken bone, a bowl of salted water and a mixture of grated apples with nuts, dates, figs or raisins (Celina doesn't like them). This brown mass is reminiscent of the clay that the Israelites in Egypt used to make bricks to build pyramids.
You can send us your stories and photos of your creations either per post or via E-Mail.
Jewish Museum Vienna, c/o Vermittlung, Dorotheergasse 11, 1010 Vienna, Austria
tours@jmw.at
Image © JMW
