GERMANY ~ Old Jewish Cemetery - Mainz - UNESCO ~

...  View of the Old Jewish Cemetery... the oldest known burial place of the Jewish community in Mainz (from about 1012)... it is also considered as one of the oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe... it highlights the importance of the Jewish community in Magenza (Mainz)... a place of memory and remember the dead... with lovely stamp and as always great first day postmarks👍... Thanks a lot Dustin!【ツ】

The old 'Judensand' Jewish cemetery is situated on a former Roman burial ground. Although a first documentary mention was only made in 1286, this area was already in use as a Jewish burial ground in the 10thC by Jews who had migrated to Mainz where they formed a community.

 As a consequence of the dissolution of the Jewish community in 1438, gravestones from the Middle Ages were carried off and used in part during the following centuries for the construction of local fortifications in the town and along the Rhine.

 It was only in 1583 that a re-established Jewish community was able to once again make use of the "Judensand" for burials, until it was closed in 1880.

Since 2021, it has been part of the Jewish cultural sites of the ShUM cities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz, a name coined from the initial letters of their medieval names in Hebrew a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Stamp: 

World of Letters 

(Issued 04-08-2022)