Israel Museum
The Israel Museum (Hebrew: מוזיאון ישראל, Muze'on Yisrael, Arabic: متحف إسرائيل) is an art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading encyclopaedic museums. It is situated on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, adjacent to the Bible Lands Museum, the National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel, the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Not to be confused with Eretz Israel Museum.Established
The Israel Museum ranks as the 17th largest art institution globally, housing a collection of approximately 500,000 art pieces.[2] Its holdings include the world's most comprehensive collections of the archaeology of the Holy Land, and Jewish art and life, as well as significant and extensive holdings in the fine arts, the latter encompassing eleven separate departments: Israeli Art, European Art, Modern Art, Contemporary Art, Prints and Drawings, Photography, Design and Architecture, Asian Art, African Art, Oceanian Art, and Arts of the Americas.
Among the unique objects on display are the Venus of Berekhat Ram, the interior of a 1736 Zedek ve Shalom synagogue from Suriname, necklaces worn by Jewish brides in Yemen, a mosaic Islamic prayer niche from 17th-century Persia, and a nail attesting to the practice of crucifixion in Jesus' time.[3] An urn-shaped building in the grounds of the museum, the Shrine of the Book, houses the Dead Sea Scrolls and artifacts discovered at Masada. It is one of the largest museums in the region.
Youth Wing[edit]
The Ruth Youth Wing for Art Education was opened in 1966. It is unique in its size and scope of activities, presents a wide range of programming to more than 100,000 schoolchildren each year, and features exhibition galleries, art studios, classrooms, a library of illustrated children's books, and a recycling room. Special programs foster intercultural understanding between Arab and Jewish students and reach out to the wide spectrum of Israel's communities. The wing combines annual original artworks of Israeli and international artists, with educational activities. There are also a variety of workshops for children and adults.[18]
Rockefeller Archaeological Museum and the Ticho House[edit]
In addition to the extensive programming offered on its main campus, the Israel Museum also operates two off-site locations: the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum that opened in 1938 for the display of artifacts unearthed mainly in the excavations conducted in Mandatory Palestine, in the 1920s and 1930s;[19] and Ticho House, which offers an ongoing program of exhibitions by younger Israeli artists in a historic house and garden setting.[20]
Management[edit]
Funding[edit]
The Israel Museum receives only 10% to 12% of its operating budget from state and municipal sources. The Israeli government provides varying amounts of funds each year. The institution must raise 88% of its yearly operating budget, all of its $200 million endowment[21][22] and $100 million for its recent capital project, while paying 17.5% VAT as well as real-estate taxes on the campus property.
The most active of the international support groups of the museum, the American Friends of the Israel Museum, raised $270 million in cash, of which $47 million is in endowment funds, and donated $210 million in the art from 1972 to 2008. In 2009, the Israel Museum received $12 million from the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation, towards the renovation, reinstallation, and endowment of its fine arts wing, which will be renamed after Edmond and Lily Safra.[23]
Prizes awarded by the museum[edit]
Among the prizes awarded by the museum is the Jesselson Prize for Contemporary Judaica Design, which recognizes outstanding design of Jewish ritual objects.[25] Winners include Moshe Zabari (1990).[26]
Incidents[edit]
On 5 October 2023, a 40-year-old Jewish-American tourist was arrested at the museum after hurling a marble head of the Greek goddess Athena and a statue of a griffin grasping the wheel of fate of the Roman god Nemesis into the floor, shattering the latter artefact. Police described him as a radical who considered the artefacts “to be idolatrous and contrary to the Torah”, while his lawyer claimed he was suffering from Jerusalem syndrome. The damaged artefacts, both of which dated from the Second Century CE, were placed under restoration.[27][28]
