Rylands Haggadah: Medieval Jewish Art in Context July 6, 2012

A lavishly illustrated 14th-century Catalonian haggadah from the collection of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, England, will be displayed in the Gallery for Western European Art from 1050 to 1300. A haggadah is the book used at the Passover seder, the ritual meal that commemorates the exodus of the ancient Israelites from Egypt. Works of art from the Museum's own collection, made for Christian use, but depicting the saga of the Hebrew people, will suggest the larger, medieval context of biblical storytelling in which the Haggadah was created. Images in the Rylands Haggadah depict episodes from the exodus from Egypt--such as the well-known Biblical stories of the ten plagues and the parting of the Red Sea--and also depict medieval Catalonian preparations for the seder. Each month, the Haggadah will be open to a different page, affording visitors the exceptional opportunity to follow the artist's telling of the Exodus story.