Vatican, Jewish museums explore menorah in art and dark legend

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A bust of Roman Emperor Titus is pictured next to a replica of the 1st-century Arch of Titus, showing Roman soldiers carrying the menorah, in a exhibition at the Vatican May 15. (CNS/Paul Haring)

Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service | May. 15, 2017

VATICAN CITY The Vatican Museums and the Jewish Museum of Rome are exploring together the significance of the menorah, although they also give a nod to the centuries-old legend that the Vatican is hiding the golden menorah from the Temple of Jerusalem.

A two-part exhibition, one at the Vatican and the other at the Jewish Museum of Rome, prominently features a replica of the 1st-century Arch of Titus, showing Roman soldiers carrying the menorah and other treasures into Rome.

From a coin minted in the century before Christ's birth to a 1987 Israeli comic book featuring a superhero with a menorah on his chest, the exhibit, "The Menorah: Worship, History and Myth," documents the use of the seven-branched candelabra both as a religious item and a symbol of Jewish identity.

The exhibit is scheduled to be open through July 23. One ticket includes admission to the main part of the exhibit in the Charlemagne Wing just off St. Peter's Square and to the Jewish Museum, located about a mile away at Rome's main synagogue.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/vatican-jewish-museums-explore-menorah-art-and-dark-legend