Students from Normal Park Museum Magnet School’s 6th grade class visited the Siskin Museum of Religious Artifacts housed at Siskin Children’s Institute. Students have spent the semester learning about different religions around the world. Each class had the opportunity to view rare and precious artifacts that were part of a larger collection of religious pieces dating back to 16th century.
Mose and Garrison Siskin, founders of Siskin Children’s Institute, commissioned Rabbi Harris Swift to collect artifacts. Through a series of trips to Europe in the 1950s he located and purchased religious artifacts, many representing their Jewish faith. Rabbi Swift was able to collect more than 400 pieces including 247 Judaic and 140 Christian ranging from the 16th to 20th century. In addition, a number of pieces were collected representing Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, and others.
Students visiting the museum were tasked with identifying and illustrating pieces that represented various world religions while also finding pieces that were meaningful to them. The visit was the culmination of a semester of study on world religions.
The Siskin Museum of Religious Artifacts is housed at Siskin Children’s Institute and is open to the public for self-guided tours Monday through Friday from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Guided tours are available by appointment. To learn more about the Siskin Museum of Religious Artifacts, visit siskin.org/museum.
For more information about Siskin Children’s Institute, visit siskin.org.