108 Friday, June 13, 1986 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS The Jewish News is • LIFE IN ISRAEL Jerusalem's Fascinating Rockefeller Museum BY ELINOR MALUS to the wor order a subscription or gift subscription today! 111111111111111•11111•111111110111111111•11111 111• 111111 •11111111111111•113 1111 • 11111 11111•111111•1 1111111111• 111•1•116111 11•1 110 I I al I I 1 To: The Jewish News 20300 Civic Center Dr., Suite 240 Southfield, Mi. 48076-4138 . Gentlemen: Please send a (gift)subscription: I I I NAME ADDRESS I CITY STATE ZIP From: If gift state occasion 1 year - $21 — 2 years - $39 Out of State - $23 Foreign - $35 For many, the only familiar thing about the Rockefeller Museum is the name in its title. And yet the Rockefeller, formerly the Palestinaian Archaeological Museum, is the oldest archaeological museum in the land that is now called Israel. Part of the reason for the lack of limelight is its illustrious, newer relative, The Israel Museum; part is its loca- tion in East Jerusalem; and part may be ignorance of its exciting history. The museum was made pos- sible by John D. Rockefeller Jr. In a letter to the High Com- missioner of the Government of Palestine in October, 1927, he pledged up to $2 million toward the cost of the building, equipping and endowing a museum for local antiquities. The Palestine government donated the site, 10 acres of land facing the northeast cor- ner of the Old City walls. Known at the time as The Sheik's Vineyard, it had be- longed to the Khalili family for two and a half centuries. A 200-year old pine tree that the sheik had brought as a seed- ling from Hebron and that Rockefeller specifically asked be saved can still be found in the grounds. Two hundred and fifty olive trees, all 50 to 100 years old, were transplanted from other parts of the site and together with trees brought from Bethlehem, they form a surviving ring encircling the museum grounds. The designer of the museum was Austen St. Barbe Harri- son, a government architect of 16 years. Living in Jerusalem, he had a feeling for the local architecture and successfully incorporated a number of aspects into his design. The building is made of local white limestone specially chosen and brought from a quarry near Jericho. Above the main en- trance is a large octagonal tower built to withstand earth- quakes and to serve as an observation point for tourists. Also in line with local style, the museum is built around a central rectangular courtyard, containing a pool, bordered by a lavender hedge. On the arches of the cloisters sur- rounding the pool are panels in high relief done, "in situ," by sculptor and letter artist Eric Gill. The illustrations repre- sent people from countries who have influenced the area's culture and history, such as the Canaanites, Phoenicians and Crusaders. Unusual for the period, the museum is only one story. The exhibition galleries are ar- ranged around the central courtyard with octagonal rooms, now used for special ex- hibits, at the four corners. They provide a visual sum- mary of the pre-history and history of the country. To make the material easily com- prehensible to lay people, the finds are arranged chrono- logically and not by excavation site, as is sometimes done. The archaeological exhibits start with remains dating from Palaeolithic times (500,000 BCE to 10,000 BCE), with a skeleton from a cave on Mt. Carmel from the tenth mil- lenium BCE. Ossuaries and pottery from the Neolithic period, 5,000 to 3,000 BCE, follow. Pottery, seals, pen- dants, jewelry from the Early Bronze period through the Iron Age, Roman and Hellen- istic periods fill the glass display cases. Rooms at the corner of each North and South gallery house special displays; architectural decorative fragments from Hisham's Palace near Jericho from the first half of the eighth century CE; lintels from the Church of the Holy Sepul- cher, carved in marble by Crusaders showing scenes from the life of Jesus; carved wood panels from the El Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem; and mosaic tile synagogue inscrip- tions from all over the country. The current special temporary exhibit, "From the Depths of the Sea," shows cargoes of an- cient wrecks found using the relatively new techniques of underwater archaeology. The building also has rooms for collecting, sorting, repair- ing and photographing the ob- jects on display and a records office, library and lecture hall. The galleries are run by The Israel Museum and the rest of the building space is taken up by offices of the Department of Antiquities, part of the Min- istry of Culture and Education. Throughout the building, words marking exits, cloak- rooms, halls and galleries are engraved in the walls in three languages — Arabic, Hebrew and English. During Jordanian rule, the Hebrew was plastered over but today the printing -- even Government of Pales- tine, on one of the entrances — is clearly visible. Since its creation, the mu- seum has been witness to many political changes, and with its facade pockmarked by bullet holes, it has not re- mained unscathed. Initially, it was part of the Department of Antiquities of the British School of Archaeology in Jer- usalem and housed under its roof. The department had been charged with establishing a museum, the object of which, according to its keeper, J.H. Iliffe in 1930, was "the collec- tion, conservation arid preser- vation of knowledge concern- ing the past of man in Pales- tine whether by books, written documents and records, or the actual remains of his handi- work." In June 1930, the museum's .