Second Nuremberg Haggadah

About the Second Nuremberg Haggadah

The "Second Nuremberg Haggadah" is an illuminated manuscript Haggadah, apparently from the mid-15th century. Its name derives from its being held by the Stadtbibliothek Of Nuremberg from the mid-19th century until 1957. Its previous provenance is not known. In 1957 the Haggadah was acquired by the Schocken Collection in Jerusalem and in 2004 it was purchased by Mr. David Sofer of London.

It is known as the "Second Nuremberg Haggadah" to distinguish it from another illuminated Haggadah, "the "First Nuremberg Haggadah", currently found at the Israel Museum.

The Haggadah contains beautiful illustrations on Passover motifs as well as three cycles of Biblical illustrations related to the story of the Exodus, the lives of the patriarchs, and various later Biblical figures. Many of these illustrations are based on Midrashic stories.

The illustrator of this Haggadah is not known but researchers identify him as identical with the illustrator of another anonymous Haggadah known as the "Yahuda Haggadah" which is found today in the Israel Museum.

About the Manuscript

 Bezalel Narkiss, Gabrielle Sed- Rajna, Ariella Amar, Center for Jewish Art, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. A full description of the manuscript, 2008.

 K. Kogman-Appel. "The Iconography of the Biblical Cycle of the Second Nuremberg and the Yahuda Haggadot: Tradition and Innovation", in The Old Testament as Inspiration in Culture: International Academic Symposium – Prague, September 1995, edited by Jan Heller, Shemaryahu Talmon, Hana Hlaváčková and Martin Prudký, Prague, 2001.

 K. Kogman-Appel. "The Second Nuremberg Haggadah and the Yahuda Haggadah: Were they Made by the Same Artist?", in: Proceedings of the Eleventh World Congress of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem 1993, Division D, vol. II, Jerusalem 1994, 25-32.