Located in the south end of Battery Park City, the Museum of Jewish Heritage occupies a strikingly spare six-sided building designed by award-winning architect Kevin Roche, with a six-tier roof alluding to the Star of David and the 6 million murdered in the Holocaust. The permanent exhibits -- "Jewish Life a Century Ago," "The War Against the Jews," and "Jewish Renewal" -- recount the daily prewar lives, the unforgettable horror that destroyed them, and the tenacious renewal experienced by European and immigrant Jews in the years from the late 19th century to the present. The museum's power derives from the way it tells that story: through the objects, photographs, documents, and, most poignantly, through the videotaped testimonies of Holocaust victims, survivors, and their families, all chronicled by Steven Spielberg's Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. Thursday evenings are dedicated to panel discussions, performances, and music, while Sundays are dedicated to family programs and workshops; a film series is also a regular part of the calendar. A new East Wing, which will triple the exhibition and events space and add a Family History Center, will open in the fall of 2003.

While advance tickets are not usually necessary, you may want to purchase them to guarantee admission; call tel. 212/945-0039. Audio tours narrated by Meryl Streep and Itzhak Perlman are available at the museum for an additional $5.