The Ritual Bath

Opening Hours
Apr. 1 - Oct. 31: Mon - Fri 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. and
2 p.m. - 5 p.m., Sat and Sun 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Admission: 1 EUR (reduced 0,50 EUR)
Guide Tours: Tourist-Information Speyer
Address: Judengasse
Fon: +49 (0) 62 32 / 7 72 88

360° Panoramic View of the Jewish Bath

The ritual bath of the Jewish community was built at roughly the same time as the synagogue. It is located in the "Jewish Courtyard", only a few meters east of the synagogue with its women's gallery. It is the oldest facility of its kind in Central Europe.

Because the natural water sources in medieval towns were not clean enough to fulfil the requirements of a ritual bath, deep wells were dug to reach the water table. The ground water collected in a reservoir, which not being completely watertight, allowed the water to be constantly refreshed.

The ritual Jewish bath of Speyer consists of a ca.10 meter deep bath shaft with a bathing pool. The bath chamber is reached by an upper staircase, that descends in two sections from the entrance down to the pool's antechamber. Double doors at the entrance were flanked by two half columns with cushion capitals. After the lintel, the walls were covered in sandstone masonry, reticulated in squared-stone, the squares angled on their corners, in the style of the Roman "opus reticulatum".

In the first section of the staircase, there is a niche on the west side for the inscription and niches on both sides for sitting. The second section of the upper staircase also had a door, flanked by two pairs of half columns.

From here one reaches the anteroom, which has a cross-vaulted ceiling. Columns in the four corners support the vault. Although the column in the northeast corner is very deteriorated, the upper part of the column in the southeast corner with its capital and impost can still be seen. Of the columns on the west side, only the imposts and one capital remain.

The capitals and imposts are decorated with rich Romanesque ornaments, which in the Middle Ages were originally done in colours. Here there are two sections of windows, which provide a view to the south into the bath chamber itself. In the lower part of the wall, there are two rectangular windows and in the upper part there are two bow windows, one Romanesque and one decorated with plant motifs. This latter window is the same shape as the two windows which have been preserved from the west wall of the synagogue.

From the east side of the antechamber, a passage leads into a small room used for changing, with a bench. On the west side of the antechamber, a curved barrel-vaulted staircase leads down to the rectangular bathing pool, which has a few steps for getting into the water.

First references to the ritual bath date back to 1128. The decorative architecture, the tympanum over the entrance, the half columns flanking the doors, as well as the pillars and windows of the antechamber all show a marked resemblance to the architectural style of the synagogue, as well as to the renovations completed on the cathedral at the beginning of the 12th century. It is apparent that the ritual bath was built at the same time as the synagogue, by craftsmen who worked on the cathedral renovations.

The mikvah of Speyer is the oldest remaining Jewish ritual bath in Central Europe. The foundations are similar to those of the mikvah in Worms. Other monumental medieval mikvahs exist in Offenburg, Friedberg, Andernach, Limburg and Köln.

The remains of the synagogue and the ritual bath are the most important Romanesque edifices in Speyer, second only to the Imperial Cathedral. They are monuments of medieval Jewish history of international significance.