Israel Museum, National art museum in Jerusalem, Israel
The Israel Museum is a national art museum in Jerusalem, Israel, with collections of archaeology, fine arts and Jewish heritage across multiple floors and separate pavilions. The exhibition spaces spread over a large campus with courtyards, gardens and the white domed building that houses the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Teddy Kollek founded the institution in 1965 and commissioned Alfred Mansfeld to design the original buildings on a hill west of the Old City. The expansion in 2010 added new galleries and a redesigned entrance plaza, doubling the space for visitors.
The white dome of the Shrine of the Book stands next to a black basalt wall, symbolizing the struggle between light and darkness, the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness from the ancient scrolls. Families and school groups move through the galleries while researchers work in the reading rooms and visitors stroll through the sculpture garden under olive trees.
The galleries sit on different levels with ramps and stairs between pavilions, so visitors should plan for several hours to walk through the full circuit. The sculpture garden offers shade and seating for breaks between exhibitions, and signage helps navigate the different wings.
A scale model of Jerusalem from 66 CE shows the city before the destruction of the Second Temple, with tiny buildings, streets and walls across an area of about 50 square meters (about 540 square feet). Researchers used ancient texts and archaeological finds to reconstruct thousands of details, from houses to public squares.
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