UNESCO named a group of medieval Jewish sites in the German city of Erfurt as a World Heritage Site. It's the second time Jewish heritage in Germany has been added to the list in recent years.The medieval Jewish town center of Erfurt city in central Germany was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List on Sunday.

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"The Jewish monuments of Erfurt were nearly forgotten for centuries," said Maria Böhmer, president of the German UNESCO commission. "Their rediscovery is a great gift."

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Among the buildings included on the sought-after list were Erfurt's Old Synagogue, a 13th-century stone building that shows medieval Jewish family life, and a traditional ritual bath, or mikveh.

The Old Synagogue was used as a storehouse and then a restaurant and dance hall. Its importance was only rediscovered and established in 1988. The ritual bath was used as a cellar for centuries and was not recognized for its historical and cultural background until 2007.

A pogrom in Erfurt in 1349 wiped out the entire Jewish community. The city believes the synagogue's use as a warehouse and dance hall kept it from being destroyed by the Nazis.

Today, the Old Synagogue, whose earliest signs of construction date back to around 1094, houses a museum.

The site marks the second Jewish site in Germany to be protected by UNESCO, making it an important step towards honoring the common roots of Judaism and Christianity, said Kerstin Püschel, the German Ambassador to UNESCO. This brings the number of World Heritage sites in Germany up to 52.

UNESCO or the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations.

UNESCO is based in Paris and began the World Heritage List in 1978. It includes a broad array of over 1,000 sites — from the Acropolis in Athens to the Great Wall of China — nominated by their respective nations.

rm/sms (AP, DPA, AFP)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 17, 2023 10:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).