Eva Fischer’s Jerusalem on Display at Villa Medici in Rome

The Jewish Museum in Rome is among the Italian and international institutions contributing to the exhibition Shared Sacred Sites, which is open until January 19 at the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici. Curated by Dionigi Albera, Raphaël Bories, and Manoël Pénicaud, the show uses works of art to shed light on a religious phenomenon that is sometimes little-known yet very present in the Mediterranean: sanctuaries shared by worshippers of different religions. Since their origins, the ritual practices, founding narratives, tutelary figures, and sacred spaces of the three great monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—have intertwined.

The exhibition brings together major works from French, Italian, and Vatican collections, placing them in dialogue with contemporary creations. On loan from the Jewish Museum is a sketch by the painter Eva Fischer. Created at the end of the 1970s, it is part of a series of designs for stained glass windows donated to the museum. The windows are dedicated to four holy cities in Israel: Safed, Hebron, Jerusalem, and Tiberias. On display is the sketch representing Jerusalem. The sketch is reproduced in the catalog alongside the one illustrating Hebron. 

Eva Fischer (1920-2015) was a Croatia-born Italian artist. She arrived in Italy in 1941. After World War II, she settled in Rome, where she rebuilt her life. She began exhibiting on Via Margutta and met influential figures who would leave their mark on history. She befriended numerous artists and intellectuals, including Renato Guttuso, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí, and Pablo Picasso.