The Sarajevo Haggadah and Illustrated Sephardic Manuscripts

The Sarajevo Haggadah is one of the most celebrated and most precious illuminated Hebrew manuscripts in the world. Produced in Spain, most likely in Barcelona, around the middle of the fourteenth century, it is distinguished by its rich cycle of miniatures illustrating biblical scenes from the Creation to the death of Moses—a rare testimony to medieval Sephardic Jewish art within the context of Gothic illumination. After the expulsion from Spain, the manuscript traveled across the Mediterranean and eventually reached Sarajevo, where it was acquired by the National Museum of Bosnia at the end of the nineteenth century. Its eventful history has become legendary: it was twice saved from destruction, first by a Muslim curator who hid it from the Nazis during the Second World War, then during the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s. Alongside other illustrated Sephardic manuscripts, such as the so-called "Golden" and "Barcelona" Haggadot, it embodies the artistic richness of medieval Judaism and the resilience of its heritage.

Sources & resources

• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan
• Jewish Virtual Library ↗