Project: The National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah

Administered by a Foundation formed by Mibac (Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities), Ferrara City Council, CDEC (Foundation Jewish Contemporary Documentation Center) and ECEI (Union of Italian Jewish Communities), at the end of 2017 with an exhibition entitled “Jews, an Italian story: the first thousand years”, the first block of MEIS, the National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah, was inaugurated in Ferrara (Central Italy), while eagerly awaiting inauguration of the modern Great MEIS complex.

An international tender was issued in 2011 looking for designers to turn the former prison into a museum and, at the same time, to propose a new architectural complex.

The five new buildings, which are scheduled to be completed in 2020, have a total surface area of 2,700 m2 and feature exhibition spaces, a restaurant, an auditorium, a bookshop, classrooms, a library and an archive room.

Project Director: Gregorio Carboni Maestri Public Realm Design: Chester Nielsen Architects, Inc. Program: Museum Size: 2400 sq m Client: Mibac Location: Ferrara, IT