In the Middle Ages, the Jewish communities in Speyer, Worms and Mainz formed a unique and important center of Jewish life for the whole of Ashkenaz – a rabbinical term from the Middle Ages for Central Europe and Germany and the Jews living there. The three communities formed an association that had a decisive influence on the architecture, culture, religion and jurisdiction of the Central and Eastern European
Jewish diaspora.
The Jewish community association on the Rhine derived the acronym ShUM from the initial Hebrew letters of its three towns Shpira, Warmaisa and Magenza. The architectural evidence – synagogues, women’s schools, teaching houses and ritual baths – as well as the Jewish cemeteries in Worms and Mainz, together with the religious tradition, document the immense importance and innovative power of the ShUM communities in medieval Ashkenazi Judaism. Unique testimonies from this period have been preserved in the three cities to this day. Since 2021, the SchUM sites of Speyer, Worms and Mainz have been inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, making them the first Jewish World Heritage Sites in Germany.
For the third time, the SchUM cities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz are offering the international artist residency program “SchUM-Artist in Residence”. Artists from all over the world are invited to engage intensively with the historical and cultural aspects of the UNESCO World Heritage SchUM sites of Speyer, Worms and Mainz and to create innovative works of contemporary art that reflect and reinterpret the rich heritage of these places. The residency will take place from mid-April to mid-May 2026 and will last four to six weeks.
Application deadline: September 30, 2025