(JTA) — The Jewish Museum of Belgium, where a Muslim fanatic killed four people last year, closed for two years of renovations.
The Brussels museum shut down Sunday and renovations are to begin next year, the RTBF news station reported Monday. The museum will be reopened in 2017 with a new layout and programs that will “accentuate the common ground that Jewish culture has with other cultures,” the report said, based on interviews with management.
Museum spokeswoman Chouna Lomponda said the museum aims to “ring to the fore similarities and singularities, for example between Jews and Muslims.”
A French national, Mehdi Nemmouche, is standing trial for the murders, which he has denied perpetrating. Several days after the May 24, 2014 attack, French police arrested Nemmouche in the port city of Marseille; he had an automatic rifle and other weapons. Nemmouche is believed to have fought in Syria.
Two Israeli tourists and two museum workers were killed in the shootings.
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