A treasury of sacred cloth

When you think of prize Judaica, what probably comes to mind are antique books or the silver bells and breastplates that adorn a Sefer Torah. But a new Jewish Museum exhibition that has just opened in London features another type of religious artistry - the mantles in which the Torah is dressed.

Some of the "sacred textiles" that have been in the possession of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation for three centuries have gone on display at the historic Bevis Marks Synagogue in the East End.

Apart from the mantles - or cloaks, as they are known among the Sephardi community - there are other fabric pieces such as mappot, which are used to cover the scroll during interludes between reading, or a gilded linen jacket believed to have worn by the Reverend David de Sola at his circumcision at the end of the 18th century.

Some exhibits, which had lain fading in the dark for many years, are now being shown for the first time since conservation. "We have had to raise a lot of money to have the work done by professional conservators," said Estelle Levy, a member of the congregation's vestments committee who has herself produced embroidered mantles for the community. "The livery companies have been very generous to us because they see it as part of the heritage of the city."