Public Art > Menorah in Orthodox Church
MENORAH
Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church in the village Mezhniki, Leningrad Oblast, Russia.
The menorah (/məˈnɔːrə/; Hebrew: מְנוֹרָה) is a seven-branched candelabrum that is described in the Hebrew Bible as having been used in the Tabernacle and in the Temple in Jerusalem.
According to the Hebrew Bible, the menorah was made out of pure gold, and the only source of fuel that was allowed to be used to light the lamps was fresh olive oil. Biblical tradition holds that Solomon's Temple was home to ten menorahs, which were later plundered by the Babylonians; the Second Jewish Temple is also said to have been home to a menorah. Following the Roman besiegement of Jerusalem in 70 CE, the menorah was taken to Rome; the Arch of Titus, which still stands today, famously depicts the menorah being carried away by the triumphant Romans along with other spoils of the destroyed Second Jewish Temple. Traces of the temple menorah have been lost since late antiquity.