Vaults of Memory: The Roman Jewish Catacombs and Their Context in the Ancient Mediterranean World
by Estelle Shohet Brettman, Amy Hirschfeld & Florence Wolsky (with Liza Wolsky)
Web edition revision and preface by Jessica Dello Russo
© 1991-2017 International Catacomb Society
All rights reserved.
Vaults of Memory: The Roman Jewish Catacombs and Their Context in the
Ancient Mediterranean World, a monograph by International Catacomb
Society founder Estelle Shohet Brettman on "the catacombs and the people
who built them", was left unfinished in manuscript form when she
died after a brief but agonizing cancer spread in June of 1991. Shortly
before her death, Brettman made provisions in her will "for the future
of the International Catacomb Society, and that her book would be
finished". Society co-founder Florence Z. Wolsky, together with Estelle
Brettman's project assistant, Amy K. Hirschfeld, the society's new
executive director, were contracted by the board of directors,
"heartbroken, but committed to the completion of this important
publication," to "finish the book and see it through publication... as a
living tribute to Estelle's dedication, vision, and love of the
catacombs".
Vaults of Memory: Jewish and Christian Imagery in the Catacombs of Rome (Exhibition Catalog
Vaults of Memory: Jewish and Christian Imagery in the Catacombs of Rome: An Exhibition, by Estelle Shohet Brettman, Boston: Thomas Todd Publishers, 1985. Paperback.
This catalogue records a remarkable research project which traveled
from Boston's Beacon Hill to the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome. For
approximately ten years, Estelle Shohet Brettman, Co-Founder and
Executive Director of the International Catacomb Society, repeatedly
explored the catacombs of Rome with a gas lamp and camera. In the
vestigial imagery and epigraphy of Subterranean Rome, she noted parallel
symbolism among Jewish, Christian, and pagan burials. The exhibit it
records is now digitized and available to view on the site.
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