Ets Haim (Tree of Life) library of the religious school of the Sephardic Jewish community in Amsterdam

The synagogue of the Sephardic Jewish community of Amsterdam was completed in 1675. It contains the Ets Haim (tree of life) seminary and library, the latter being considered one of the world’s most important Jewish libraries. It contains some 30,000 volumes from 1484 up to the present and 500 manuscripts, the oldest dating to 1282. The library Ets Haim - Livraria Montezinos was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.

Interieur van de bibliotheek Ets Haim van de Portugese Synagoge te Amsterdam, colour photograph, Amsterdam, 2005, photographer: Sergé Technau; source: Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, rijksmonument number 3716, http://beeldbank.cultureelerfgoed.nl/afbeelding/20408341; Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Interieur_van_de_bibliotheek_Ets_Haim_van_de_Portugese_Synagoge_te_Amsterdam_-_Amsterdam_-_20408341_-_RCE.jpg.  Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Netherlands.