#rhine

Lorelei, c. 1875

The sound of water is worth more than all the poets' words.

-- Octavio Paz

Working on my new zine and prints that I make about the jewish heritage of the SchUM region. this acronym stands for Speyer, Worms and Mainz, three important jewish communities of the medival times, this places were basically the cradle of ashkenazic judaism as we know today (check for example the Takkanot Schum or the Chassidei Ashkenaz).

In the project I take the symbols I found in these cities and use an old, historical photograpy technique called cyanotype (or blue/sun-print) to create the prints.

This lion was found on a floor tile from the women’s prayer hall in Speyer. This building was added to the already existing synagogue in the mid 13th century, its floor tiles had a variety of motifs. A similar lion motif on a floor tile dating back to the same period, has been found also in Mainz, in the Dome area.