One of Jerusalem's most important cultural landmarks, the Israel Museum is renowned the world over. Its encyclopedic collections represent millenia of creativity by artists and artisans - some who have come and gone unrecorded, and others who stand out in the annals of art history.
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem features almost three hundred illustrations together with commentaries by the curators who know these works best, placing them in the context of world culture and art history. This volume presents highlights of the Museum's vast collections of nearly 500,000 individual objects.
Founded in 1965, the Museum is still relatively young, and yet its holdings in the fine arts, Judaica and Jewish ethnography, and archaeology embrace the depth and breadth of world cultural history. Its fine art collections offer a rich selection of European Old Masters of singular importance, an impressively strong holding of modern and contemporary art, and a comprehensive presentation of Israel's artistic achievement in all mediums over the last hundred years. Equally remarkable is the strength of the Museum's collecting in the arts of Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, and its depth in the fields of prints, drawings, photography, design, and architecture.
The Museum's collection of Judaica and Jewish ethnography is considered the most comprehensive - and most important - in the world. From early illuminated Hebrew manuscripts to unique examples of modern ephemera, from four complete synagogue interiors to wedding dresses and children's toys, it offers a revealing look at ritual and domestic Jewish life in the Western and the Oriental worlds, in communities that no longer exist, and in communities that thrive today, worldwide or transplanted to new homes in Israel.
The Museum also houses the world's most comprehensive collection of Holy Land antiquity, and its permanent display of the archaeology of ancient Israel takes visitors from prehistory through the Middle Ages. These objects - among them a 250,000-year-old carved figure that is considered to be the oldest artwork in the world - are profoundly significant, offering connections with the evolution of human creativity in ancient times and with the origins of Judaism and Christianity. The landmark Shrine of the Book houses the world-famous Dead Sea Scrolls, with their unique importance for the history of religion.
The Museum's Youth Wing connects objects of art and archaeology with the process of making art and of discovering cultural material in the world around us. Its innovative programs and techniques draw over 100,000 participants each year.
Le informazioni nella sezione "Riassunto" possono far riferimento a edizioni diverse di questo titolo.