A Hanukah candleholder, known as the Lindo Lamp.
A holy treasure of Portuguese and Spanish Jews in Britain, made for a wedding in a prominent family from the community more than 300 years ago, has been saved after London’s Jewish Museum triumphed in a £282,000 fundraising mission.
The silver Hanukah candleholder, known as the Lindo Lamp due to its commission for the marriage of Elias Lindo to Rachel Lopes Ferreira in 1709, will take pride of place in the Museum’s Judaism: A Living Faith show at the centre, which recently reopened following a £10 million redevelopment.
Silversmith John Ruslen fashioned the memento at the request of Isaac Lindo, Elias’s father, who fled the Inquisition in the Canary Isles to settle in London and founded the city’s iconic Bevis Marks Synagogue at the start of the 18th century.
The National Heritage Memorial Fund awarded £145,000 to the campaign, supported by £75,000 from the Art Fund and £30,000 from the MLA/V&A Purchase Fund. The lamp had been on loan to the museum since the 1930s.
“Hanukah lamps are central to Jewish celebrations and the Lindo Lamp is particularly special as it is the first one known to have been made in England,” said Dame Jenny Abramsky, Chair of the Memorial Fund.
“It is witness to the long history of Jewish people in this country, and it’s wonderful that the Fund has played a part in saving it for future generations.”
Director Rickie Burman said the Museum’s team was “very grateful” to its benefactors.
“We are delighted to have secured the future of the Lindo Lamp at the Jewish Museum,” he added.
“It is fantastic that this highlight of our Jewish ceremonial art collections can now remain on public view and be enjoyed by the many visitors to our new museum.”
