Magnes Museum Opening This Weekend - Mazel Tov!
The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at the University of California, Berkeley’s Bancroft Library — the latest addition to the city’s burgeoning downtown arts and culture district and the newest Jewish community space — is opening to the public on Sunday, January 22.
The grand opening, which is free and runs from noon to 4:00 p.m., will take place at the collection’s new, 25,000-square-foot facility at 2121 Allston Way, near campus and Downtown Berkeley BART. The celebration will feature music, food and exhibitions of contemporary artists’ projects and highlights from the Magnes' permanent collection of precious art, rare books and objects that represent the culture of Jews in the global Diaspora and the American West.
The new facility emerged from a groundbreaking partnership between one of the first Jewish museums in the country — the former Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley — Bancroft and many generous donors in the Jewish community. The community stakeholders, via the Magnes Museum Foundation of The Jewish Community Foundation of the East Bay have played a key role in the construction of the new building and will be an ongoing force in community programming. Staff and supporters said the partnership gives critically needed new life to the collections, while enhancing Bancroft’s research holdings, elevating Jewish scholarship on campus, making The Magnes collections more accessible to scholars and the community, and providing a new gathering place for cultural and academic events.
The new Magnes offers unprecedented on-site access to most of the nearly 15,000-item collection in its new conference and research rooms, auditorium and galleries. In addition, the Magnes’ Western Jewish Americana archives, the world’s largest collection of letters, diaries, photographs and documents relating to the Jewish settlement of the West, are now available at UC Berkeley at The Bancroft Library’s Heller Reading Room.
The building is a former printing plant that was updated for the Magnes by Peter Pfau (Pfau Long Architecture, San Francisco) and Oblio Jenkins (Pacassa Studio, Oakland) with a blend of vintage and modern design. The interior glass walls and inventive open storage displays provide an intimate and powerful connection to objects from around the world.
For more information or ways to support the Magnes, please contact Lisa Tabak, Foundation Director at 510-318-6420 or lisa@jfed.org.