Italian synagogue ark c. 1600. Courtesy of the Jewish Museum.

The Jewish Museum has received £4 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund to unite its two sites at a single location in Camden Town. The redeveloped Camden museum will be three times larger.

The new building will give London a high impact cultural and educational facility - a national and international resource for Jewish history.

Work begins in October 2007, and should be complete in 2009.

Torah scrolls. Courtesy of the Jewish Museum.

The development will provide space for improved educational facilities and enlarged galleries for both permanent displays and a changing programme of special exhibitions. A History Gallery will evoke the roots and experience of Jewish people in Britain who are amongst the country’s oldest minority communities. The museum hopes these displays will have resonance for other minority and faith groups, acting as a focus for the exploration of identities in a multicultural society.

The Religion Gallery, which houses one of the world’s finest collections of Jewish ceremonial art, will be redeveloped with interactive displays to provide both an aesthetic appreciation and an enjoyable hands-on experience for children and families. The Project will also create a community space with an auditorium, café, shop and a Welcome Gallery with multimedia installations which will be free to the public.

A poster protesting against the pogrom of Jews in 19th century Russia. Courtesy of the Jewish Museum.

Also opening in 2009 is a new Black Heritage Centre in Brixton, whilst groups like the Chinese National Healthy Living Centre run increasingly ambitious history projects. The Jewish museum development then, is part of a growing trend for London cultural communities to find funding to tell their own stories.