![\"\"](\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-5HNzk6lFL9w\/UJlRP5dleVI\/AAAAAAAAEBc\/7gLK4tzBzdA\/s1600\/Florence-1.jpg\" "\\"Speaking\\"")
<\/a><\/div>\nBy Ruth Ellen Gruber<\/p>\n
(This post also appears on my En Route blog<\/a> for the Los Angeles Jewish Journal)<\/em><\/p>\n I had the pleasure and privilege Sunday of giving a presentation about the Jewish Heritage Europe <\/a>web site project in Florence, in one of the city’s most prestigious and spectacular venues — the Salone dei Cinquecento of the Palazzo Vecchio, the city hall of Florence, a massive building with a distinctive tower that was originally built at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries.<\/p>\n With Pope Leo X…Photo: Angelo Pontecorboli<\/p><\/div>\n I was part of a five-person panel speaking on various aspects of “Developing Jewish Cultural Heritage in Europe.”<\/a> Our round-table was part of a huge, weeklong biennale on Cultural and “Landscape” Heritage sponsored by the Fondazione Florens. Other people on the panel included Giuseppe Burschtein, an IT specialist and Jewish heritage activist in Florence; Renzo Funaro, an architect who heads the “Opera del Tempio” project of restoration and promotion of Jewish heritage in Florence and elsewhere in Tuscany; Dora Liscia Bemporad, the director of the Jewish Museum in Florence; and Annie Sacerdoti, a pioneer of Jewish heritage documentation and activism in Italy and one of the spearheads of the European Day of Jewish Culture.<\/p>\n The moderator of our panel was the journalist Wlodek Goldkorn — who pointed out at the start of the event that this session was probably the first time that a Jewish program (other than a commemorative event) had taken place in the magnificent hall, a grandly huge space dating from 1494, richly decorated with a gorgeous painted ceiling, sculptures and paintings from the 16th century.<\/p>\n View from the Podium<\/p><\/div>\n We had a pretty good crowd — and nobody left in the middle! Given the mix of people on our panel, presentations included both local and Europe-wide issues — and none of us had more than 10 minutes or so to speak.<\/p>\n For my talk, I had an internet connection projected on two immense screens. I presented Jewish Heritage Europe <\/a>as a tool that is already functional, attracting 4,000-5,000 people a month. I took the audience on a tour of the site, describing both the static content for 48 countries — and also the dynamic content — the newsfeed, calendar, and the In Focus section.<\/p>\n I had wanted to highlight some other web sites that bring Jewish heritage online — such as Judaica Europeana <\/a>and Virtual Shtetl<\/a>. But, alas, there wasn’t time.<\/p>\n You will just have to go to all those web sites and explore!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/a><\/p>\nShare this:<\/h3>