Following its successful launches in 2022 and 2024, the ShUM-Cities of Speyer, Worms, and Mainz are announcing the third iteration of the international artist residency program, "ShUM-Artist in Residence." Until November 16, 2025, artists worldwide are invited to engage with the historical and cultural aspects of the ShUM-Sites, creating innovative contemporary artworks that reflect and reinterpret these places' rich heritage.
The residency will take place from mid-April to mid-May 2026 and last four to six weeks. All forms of artistic expression are welcome, including painting, photography, film, architecture, design, typography, goldsmithing, music, literature, and theater.
News
Here you can find the most important news about our UNESCO World Heritage Sites. All dates and further informations can be found on our German-language website.
ShUM Culture Days 2025
From September 7 to December 6, the ShUM-Cities Speyer, Worms, and Mainz will host the ShUM Culture Days 2025 to showcase the rich history, lively traditions, and creative expressions of Jewish life in the Upper Rhine region in a special
From September 7 to December 6, the ShUM-Cities Speyer, Worms, and Mainz will host the ShUM Culture Days 2025 to showcase the rich history, lively traditions, and creative expressions of Jewish life in the Upper Rhine region in a special way. The diverse program includes concerts ranging from jazz to pop, as well as readings, theater tours, inspiring lectures, discussion panels, and exhibitions. Whether you are a culture fan, history lover, or curious explorer, the ShUM Culture Days appeal to a wide audience and offer a meeting place where interreligious dialogue, mutual understanding, and shared celebration take center stage.
Speyer: September 27 to November 23
Worms: October 27 to November 16
Mainz: September 7 to December 6
For more information and program flyers, visit www.schumstaedte.de/schum/schum-kulturtage/ or follow @welterbe.schum on social media.
ShUM-Sites are positive examples nationwide
Professor Brigitte Mang, the ICOMOS Monitoring Group representative, recently visited our UNESCO World Heritage Site and was impressed by the commitment of everyone involved. Since its recognition, Prof. Mang and her colleague Dr. Markus Blaich have advised us on matters
Professor Brigitte Mang, the ICOMOS Monitoring Group representative, recently visited our UNESCO World Heritage Site and was impressed by the commitment of everyone involved. Since its recognition, Prof. Mang and her colleague Dr. Markus Blaich have advised us on matters relating to protection, preservation and communication.
Speyer: At the "Judenhof", the focus was on renovating the west wall of the women's shul and the planning of educational rooms: In the future, workshops and guided tours for children, young people and school groups will be offered there.
Mainz: Restored gravestones and the new enclosure were inspected at the "Judensand". Attention was also given to the construction of the visitor centre, which is set to open in 2026 and will be the first of three visitor centres for the serial UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Worms: Alongside the renovation work in the synagogue district, attention was given to the synagogue garden, which is currently being redesigned to include a barrier-free footbridge and an educational concept. The basement research in the "Judengasse" and the plans for the visitor centre in Worms, including the "ShUM Lab", were also presented.
"A lot has happened again in the ShUM-Sites over the past year. I am impressed by the commitment with which everyone involved is working successfully on the projects. The measures in the synagogue district in Worms to counter the effects of climate change, for example, are a positive nationwide example. With the opening of the visitor centre in Mainz next year and the other planned educational offerings in Speyer and Worms, we will also have central locations for education. These are important milestones in ensuring the protection, preservation, and education of UNESCO World Heritage for future generations. I would like to express my congratulations and appreciation to everyone involved." (Prof. Mang)
Our Website is Currently Being Updated
In order to provide an improved user experience, updated content and new features, our website is currently being redesigned.
As a result, some areas and functions may be temporarily unavailable or inaccessible. But don’t worry – we'll be back
In order to provide an improved user experience, updated content and new features, our website is currently being redesigned.
As a result, some areas and functions may be temporarily unavailable or inaccessible. But don’t worry – we'll be back soon!
You can still find valuable informations about the ShUM-Sites in Speyer, Worms and Mainz, as well as helpful details for planning your visit, on our website.
Stay tuned – we'll keep you updated, and we look forward to presenting our new website to you soon.
Thank you for your understanding!
Save the Date
Afternoon of Study and Reflection on the Traces of Anti-Judaism Using the Example of Worms Cathedral.
Did you know that traces of anti-Judaism can be found in the paintings of St. Peter's Cathedral in Worms, as well as in many other Christian churches? We need to talk about this!
During an afternoon of reflection and
Did you know that traces of anti-Judaism can be found in the paintings of St. Peter's Cathedral in Worms, as well as in many other Christian churches? We need to talk about this!
During an afternoon of reflection and study, proven experts will help us take a look at these depictions, classify them historically, and discuss how to deal with them appropriately and responsibly today. Further information on the event will follow shortly.
Saturday, September 27, 2025, from 1:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Haus am Dom, Worms
The event is organized by the Cathedral Parish of St. Peter Worms and the Academy of the Diocese of Mainz, in cooperation with ShUM-Cities association.
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Follow us on our social media channels @welterbe.schum for daily news, save the date announcements or exciting insights into our work. You have questions? No problem - send us a message on Instagram and Facebook. We look forward to get
Follow us on our social media channels @welterbe.schum for daily news, save the date announcements or exciting insights into our work. You have questions? No problem - send us a message on Instagram and Facebook. We look forward to get in touch with you!
The ShUM-Sites of Speyer, Worms and Mainz are UNESCO World Heritage Sites!
Since July 27, 2021, the ShUM-Sites of Speyer, Worms and Mainz are UNESCO World Heritage Sites!
The ShUM-Sites include unique, exemplary community centers, monuments and cemeteries. The are outstanding, outstandingly early and in singular density and completeness preserved testimonies of a living Jewish tradition in this region and beyond. The ShUM-Sites bear witness of the network of the ShUM communities in the Middle Ages. In these sites, the power of architectural innovation and outstanding scholarship can be seen. Here, intersections and also exchanges with the non-Jewish surrounding culture emerged. The brightest and darkest times of Jewish history are reflected here. Here stood the cradle of Ashkenazi Judaism and here the centuries-old roots reach into a Jewish present and future. UNESCO Website ShUM
Kehillot ShUM: UNESCO World Heritage!
In the Middle Ages, the Jewish communities of the cities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz formed an association that shaped the architecture, culture, religion and jurisprudence of the Central and Eastern European Jewish diaspora. Synagogues, women’s shuln, teaching houses and ritual baths in Speyer and Worms as well as the old Jewish cemeteries in Worms and Mainz tell of the immense importance of the ShUM communities. ShUM has a special sound in the Jewish world to this day.
The ShUM sites attract interested people from many countries. ShUM is a magnetic field. ShUM is architecture, religion, scholarship. ShUM is 1000 years of Jewish history!
Watch the Google Arts and Culture virtual exhibition! Click here
Dannie Klompsma
»I do not have to explain it to you, but in Ashkenazi Jewish history the Rheinland is the cradle of European Jewry. To be around in the ShUM cities is connecting to the earliest traditions of the pioneer Jews who entered Europe through Rome and Italy. It connects us physically to the Chasidei and Chachmei Ashkenaz, who shaped (world) Judaism so prominently.«
»The ShUM-Sites of Speyer, Worms and Mainz are visible, exceptional Jewish heritage - and since the end of July 2021 also UNESCO World Heritage! To have achieved this goal after many years of intensive research, coordination and creative processes fills everyone involved with great joy. We would like to make the Jewish ShUM World Heritage Site even better known and show at these sites how diverse, innovative and formative the Jewish ShUM communities were. We hope that the three cities and all the guests who stand in amazement in front of and in the synagogues and ritual baths and visit the 'Eternal Places', the Jewish cemeteries, will carry our message further. For appropriate and careful treatment of the ShUM-Sites and for the responsibility we all bear for the Jewish past, present and future.«
»For Jewish life in Germany and Europe, the ShUM cities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz are of decisive importance. They are the origin of a long and significant history, from the Middle Ages to the present. The traditions rooted in the ShUM communities are still valid today and have an influence on Jewish life worldwide.
Outstanding personalities, such as Rashi and Rabbi Gershom, have had a decisive influence on Ashkenazi Judaism from today's Rhineland-Palatinate.
With the recognition of the ShUM cities as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, it is possible to preserve the past of this globally unique heritage, bring it into the present and learn from it for the future.«
»As a woman from Worms, I grew up not only in the shadow of the thousand-year-old cathedral, but also in the immediate vicinity of the equally old Jewish cemetery 'Holy Sand'. Its crooked ancient gravestones - some topped with small stones - were familiar to me as a child and filled me with awe and pride, especially when I heard that this is the oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in Europe. Together with Mainz and Speyer, Worms formed the center of Jewish life in ancient times, when there was a thriving Jewish culture along the Rhine.
While today everyone knows the significance of the Romanesque cathedrals of Speyer, Worms and Mainz, not many know how much these three cities were also shaped by their Jewish inhabitants. Apart from the cemeteries, synagogues and ritual baths, women's shuln and Rashi's teaching house also bear witness to this. It was high time that ShUM became known as the cradle of Ashkenazi Judaism on the Rhine and was recognized as a World Heritage Site.«
Rabbi Dr. Elisa KlapheckRafael HerlichRabbinerin Prof. Dr. Elisa KlapheckFrankfurt am Main
»You can still feel the rabbinic genius loci in the ShUM Sites. A trip there always gives me inspiration.«
»The 'World Heritage' recognition makes it clear how unique the value of a cultural site is. The ShUM-Sites are not only significant today: many centuries ago, they already formed a network that was - and still is - formative for the architecture, culture, religion and jurisdiction of Judaism in Central and Eastern Europe. With the preservation of the ShUM-Sites, it becomes clear that Jewish life has always had its place in our region. This memory is the true heritage that the remaining historical testimonies show us today and in the future. We are therefore particularly pleased about the recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.«
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