Exhibition: The Life of Sephardic Jews in the Balkans – 27/05/15 a 15/06/15

Cervantes Instituto presents an exhibition «Images of the Lost World. The life of Sephardic Jews in the Balkans» that is on display from May 27 (18:00).

The exhibition presents photographs from family albums of Spanish Jews from the Balkans in the first half of the twentieth century. On the basis of the oral stories, which were written by the researchers between 2000 and 2007 and which accompanion the exhibition, the public will be introduced with daily life of Spanish Jews in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean. We will have a rare opportunity to peek into the past thru family portraits, landscapes, images with religious rituals, in which you can feel a mixture of Hebrew, Spanish and Ottoman influences.

After living nearly 1000 years in the Iberian Peninsula, the Jews were expelled from Spain by the decree in 1492 . Some families went to North Africa, but the majority setlled in the territory of the former Ottoman Empire, founding of the communities and have never totally lost their connection with their tradition. Today in Bosnia, Serbia, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and Macedonia live families who are of Sephardic origin, and who use the language, recipes and traditions of their ancestors. Given that after the World War II, many moved to Israel and that the modern era brings a new way of life, the researchers of NGO Centrope decided to save from oblivion Sephardic tradition and to gather a large number of family photos and record oral stories. The importance of this topic is the fact that Spain passed a law which comes into force in October that all Sephardic Jews, who can prove their origin, can obtained Spanish citizenship.

Exhibition is on display until June 15, entry is free!

Fuente: belgradian.com