Jewish Country Houses

A view through an archway into a grand room; the wall beside the archway is deep red and there is a statue and a painting

Hughenden Manor © Hélène Binet (Jewish Country Houses / National Trust Images)

TALK

Jewish Country Houses

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 Tuesday 20 May 2025

 5–7pm

  At the Weston Library

  Free, booking required

Book now

About the event

Country houses are powerful symbols of national identity, evoking the glamorous world of the landowning aristocracy. Jewish country houses – properties that were owned, built, or renewed by Jews – tell a more complex story of prejudice and integration, difference and connection. A few are now museums of international importance, many more are hidden treasures, and all were beloved homes that bear witness to the remarkable achievements of newly emancipated Jews across Europe – and to a dream of belonging that mostly came to a brutal end with the Holocaust.

Jewish Country Houses represents a unique collaboration between renowned photographer Hélène Binet and a distinguished team of historians and curators.

Join us for a conversation involving Hélène Binet, the book’s editors Juliet Carey and Abigail Green, Berlin-based curator Ruth Ur, and architectural historians Esther da Costa Mayer and William Whyte. Binet’s Discovering Jewish Country Houses will be showing at Waddesdon Manor until 22 June.

The talk will take place from 5 – 6.15pm, and will be followed by a drinks reception.

 Speakers

Hélène Binet is an internationally acclaimed architectural photographer based in London.

Juliet Carey is Senior Researcher and Curator at Waddesdon Manor (The Rothschild Collection).

Abigail Green is Professor of Modern European History at Brasenose College, Oxford.

Ruth Ur is the founder of urKultur GmbH.

Esther da Costa Meyer is Professor Emerita in the Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University and Visiting Professor at the Yale School of Architecture.

William Whyte is Professor of Social and Architectural History at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St John's College, Oxford.

  Book tickets

Tickets for this event are free, and booking is required. The event takes place in person at the Weston Library.

Book now

  Location

Sir Victor Blank Lecture Theatre, Weston Library, Broad Street, Oxford, OX1 3BG

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 Wheelchair access

The Weston Library is wheelchair accessible.

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