Medieval Jewish Court (Speyer) and Museum SchPIRA

The Judenhof Speyer was the central district of the medieval Jewish quarter of Speyer and was probably founded in 1090 by privileges of Emperor Hainrich IV. It consisted of the ritual and communal buildings of the medieval communal center. Thus, it was the second Jewish quarter of Speyer, a first Siendlungsbezirk was located in the suburb of Altspeyer, where the Jewish cemetery continued to be located. The Judenhof consisted of the synagogue (ca. 1100), the women's school (ca. 1250), the oldest preserved mikvah in Central Europe (ca. 1110/20), a yeshiva (teaching house) and the synagogue courtyard. After 1534, when the Jews were finally expelled from Speyer, the property was owned by the city and the buildings fell into disrepair or were put to other uses. Since the great city fire in the War of the Palatinate Succession in 1689, the buildings have been preserved as ruins or archaeological sites. Today, in addition to the very well preserved monumental mikveh and the rising wall remains of the synagogue and women's school, the site houses the SchPIRA Museum. It was opened in 2010 and shows the eventful history of the Jews in Speyer. Exhibits include floor tiles from the women's synagogue, gravestones from the medieval Jewish cemetery in Altspeyer, twin windows from the women's synagogue and the treasure from Lingenfeld. The synagogue courtyard nördlich to the synagogue adjacent as well as the östlich annexed yeshiva exist today only as archäological Stätten.

The Judenhof Speyer is part of the serial nomination of the SchUM-Stätten Speyer, Worms and Mainz as UNESCO World Heritage in 2020/21