The Israel Museum
At the Iconic Building of the Israel Museum
As the cultural blitzkriegers that we are, my partner and I made sure we visited the Israel Museum while we were in Jerusalem. Highly recommended by travel experts to Israel, this was one museum out of the several there are in the entire country that had to be seen and explored. Thus, on our third day of stay in the Holy Land, we set out early in the morning to visit it.
Immediately after breakfast, we took one of the city buses outside the Abraham Hostel and off we went.
It is a big museum. We spent the entire morning here and part of the early afternoon too.
There were many visitors on the day we visited but it never felt crowded. Some wings and galleries had more visitors than others. Overall, it was quiet and peaceful.
These human shaped coffins were displayed at the very first galleries right by the museum's entrance.
More of the human shaped coffins
There were lots of pottery on display. I understand they were used to store surplus food and buried in the ground. Pottery was likewise used to cook food in and serve food with.
The Mirhab
The inscription on a gate built in Damascus centuries ago.
Here's a complete description of the inscription on the gate in Damascus from long ago.
By the Mirhab
Head and Sea by Canadian Philip Guston, 1976. Exhibit seen in the contemporary wing of the museum
This ballerina's tutu was entirely made of sea salt. Also on display in the contemporary wing of the museum.
A small scale model of the walled city of Jerusalem in the olden days.
Another view of the walled city hundreds of centuries ago.
This gallery had the most impact on me! It was here were clothes worn by Israelis at three important stages of their lives were on display. Clothes which people wear shortly after birth, at their wedding, and at their death.
A mock synagogue inside the museum. I once visited a synagogue like it in Charlotte Amelie in the US Virgin Islands. Both sites had sand covering the floor.
What a room this is! So stately and elegant, just like all the rooms I have seen inside palaces and castles in Europe.
Golda Meir by Andy Warhol, 1975
By famous Belgian Rene Magritte
