Founded in 1965, The Israel Museum is the largest cultural institution in the State of Israel and is ranked among the world’s leading art and archaeology museums, containing nearly half a million artifacts from ancient Israel and Bible times.
A couple of the highlights at the museum that draw tourists from all over the world include the Shrine of the Book, designed by Armand Bartos and Frederick Kiesler, which contains the famous Dead Sea Scrolls which are the oldest biblical manuscripts in the world. This is in close proximity to the Model of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period, which is a representation of the topography and architecture of Jerusalem prior to its destruction by the Romans.
The Museum also has gardens, outdoor sculptures, and an oriental landscape juxtaposed against a Jerusalem background. The museum also rotates through modern artwork that is not necessarily unique to Israel, such as art done by Jacques Lipchitz, Henry Moore, Claes Oldenburg, Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin, and David Smith, and others. The Ruth Youth Wing for Art Education reaches up to 100,000 schoolchildren each year on various cultural topics, art exhibits, children’s books, recycling, culture, and so much more.
There is much going on at the Israeli Museum, and it is definitely worth visiting the next time you make it to Jerusalem.
Written by Erin Parfet
