Photo: Nicolas Target · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Musée du bain rituel juif

Listed Jewish ritual bath (mikveh), dug beneath the Cour des Boecklin in Bischheim; visits by appointment only.

Ask the museum for opening hours

Musée du bain rituel juifAsk the museum for opening hours

Limited operations. The Cour des Boecklin is no longer open to the general public; the mikveh can be visited only by appointment.

About the museum

The museum is located in the Cour des Boecklin, a heritage building dating from 1650 in the heart of Bischheim. The town was home to a large Jewish community for a long time: after the expulsion of the Jews from Strasbourg in 1349, Bischheim became, over the centuries, the seat of the first Jewish community of Lower Alsace.

The mikveh, the ritual bath of purification, was fitted out in the 19th century after the courtyard was bought by a Jewish notable, Barush Levy. It is fed directly by the groundwater, about 8 metres below ground. Access is by a Renaissance spiral staircase of 48 steps, which descends 7.50 metres and whose handrail bears the marks of 16th-century stonemasons (tâcherons).

The mikveh has been listed as a historic monument since 1977 and is part of the Parcours du judaïsme (Jewish Heritage Trail) in Bischheim, which traces the importance of Judaism in the town’s heritage. Today the Cour des Boecklin is no longer open to the general public; the library has moved to the Sapin vert, and a renovation project for the site is under study. The mikveh can still be visited by appointment.