Monumental Hanukkah Lamp — A New Object in Our Collection

On February 13, the Warsaw Ghetto Museum obtained a unique object – a 162,5 cm tall monumental bronze Hannukah lamp. The lamp is decorated with an eagle finial  and its  baze consists of a tripod standing atop bronze lions.

Hannukah is an eight-day lasting holiday commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple after the Maccabean Revolt. Every day one of eight candles is lit on a candelabrum with eight branches, commonly called ‘hannukiah’.

According to our Science Expert rabbi David Berman, ‘’there appear to be about only ten surviving examples of this type of menorah in the world, as in the Steinhardt Collection from the NY Jewish Museum and the Budapest Jewish Museum. More importantly, is almost identical to the menorah from the famous Tlomackie synagogue of Warsaw that is now displayed in the Heichal Shlomo in Jerusalem’.

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Photos: Robert Wilczyński

According to expert evaluation the object is so similar to the dated examples, including an eagle on the top, that it is almost certainly a late 18th century example. The Hannukah lamp is of the utmost importance for our ritual art collection and one of the most impressive artefacts from Poland.