SchUM World Heritage Site

The UNESCO World Heritage Site

The World Heritage Convention for the protection of the world’s cultural and natural heritage has been in existence since 1972. It was prompted by the construction of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt: at the time, the rock-cut temples of Abu Simbel were in danger of disappearing forever beneath the reservoir. In 1960, UNESCO launched an unprecedented international campaign to save the temples. This raised global awareness of the need to preserve sites of outstanding universal value. The concept of World Cultural and Natural Heritage was born.

The first twelve sites were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1978. There are now more than 1,100 World Heritage Sites in 167 countries, including the ruined city of Machu Picchu in Peru and the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Various criteria define the value of World Heritage sites. Among other things, they must be intact and have retained their original form.

On 27 July 2021, UNESCO inscribed the Jewish heritage of the SchUM sites in Speyer, Worms and Mainz on the World Heritage List.

What exactly is SchUM?

In the 11th century, the three Jewish communities in Speyer, Worms and Mainz formed a unique confederation of communities which continues to shape the Jewish world to this day. The term ‘SchUM’ is an acronym formed from the first letters of the three medieval Hebrew names of these cities:

Speyer | Schpira | ש | Shin [Sch]
Worms | Warmaisa | I | Waw [U]
Mainz | Magenza | מ | Mem [M]

For several hundred years, people of the Jewish faith found a home in the Diaspora within these three communities on the Rhine. In this context, the area was also referred to as ‘Jerusalem on the Rhine’. SchUM was the cradle of Ashkenazi Judaism.

In the SchUM communities, synagogue architecture was reimagined. For the first time, monumental ritual baths were constructed here. A new burial culture developed here, and a tradition of scholarship was cultivated that continues to shape the community to this day. The medieval SchUM sites, with their synagogues, mikvahs and cemeteries, are early and authentic testimonies to a living tradition of Ashkenazi Judaism.