Hanukkiah

Hanukkiot in the form of seating furniture are a cross-country phenomenon of the 19th century. Thus, it is not surprising that a hanukkah menorah can have the shape of a Biedermeier sofa. Inventoried by the old Jewish Museum on March 1917 as "from the bequest of the blessed Baurätin Stiassny donated by her son Dr. Sigmund Stiassny, Vienna", it shows no signs of use. The blessed "Baurätin" (in Austria-Hungary, women were titeld according to their husbands' profession) is the wife of Wilhelm Stiassny. She probably used a different candelabrum when celebrating Hanukkah at home. Wilhelm Stiassny was an architect, a member of the board of the Vienna Jewish Community from 1879 until his death in 1910, and a member of the board of trustees of the first Jewish museum founded in Vienna in 1895.