The medieval cemetery "Judensand" on Mombacher Straße is largely preserved. Time and again, expulsions of the Jewish community led to clearances and alterations, causing many gravestones to be lost. Since the 1860s, significant gravestones of Jewish origin have repeatedly surfaced during construction work in Mainz.
In 1926, Rabbis Levi and Salfeld united prominent gravestones to create a memorial cemetery, in order to make the Jewish heritage visible and emphasize the community's location in Magenza and Germany. The oldest preserved gravestone dates back to 1049 and commemorates Jehuda ben Schneor. Other gravestones honor the scholars Gerschom ben Jehudah and Meschullam ben Kalonymos the Great. Some particularly old stones have been displayed at the Landesmuseum Mainz with the permission of the Jewish community since the 1980s.
The memorial cemetery demonstrates the central significance of Magenza for Jewish life and is unique in the Jewish world. As part of the World Heritage application for the ShUM sites, the cemetery is being further developed, researched, and preserved.
