We will be looking at the emergence of Oriental studies in the 19th century with the exhibition “The Morgenlanders”. And will make a surprising discovery: the development of Islamic studies, Arabic studies and Oriental studies was closely linked to the “Wissenschaft des Judentums”, emancipation and reform. The new Oriental studies were the scene of a Jewish search for its own origins: Exploring the sources of one’s own culture and history with a self-determined view also served as an attempt to free oneself from the discriminatory grip in a Christian society. The fact that, from this perspective, Islam and the Arab world by no means appeared as a hostile and exotic “other” of Europe, but rather as a source of European culture, productively challenges many contemporary stereotypes, xenophobic ideas as well as post-colonial black and white thinking. The Morgenlanders. Jewish explorers and adventurers in search of one’s self in the other, an exhibition by the Jewish Museum Hohenems, November 16, 2025, to October 4, 2026   Cover image (detail): Gipsbüste der Nofretete mit Make-up von Loni Baur in der Gipsformerei der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Photo: Fabian Fröhlich.