Israel Museum Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem

Established	1965
Location	Jerusalem
Type	Art and history
Visitors	More than one million in one year (2011)

The Israel Museum was founded in 1965 as Israel's national museum. It is situated on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, near the Bible Lands Museum, the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Among the unique objects on display are the Venus of Berekhat Ram; the interior of a 1736 Zedek ve Shalom synagogue from Suriname; necklaces worn by Jewish brides in Yemen; a mosaic Islamic prayer niche from 17th-century Persia; and a nail attesting to the practice of crucifixion in Jesus’ time. An urn-shaped building on the grounds of the museum, the Shrine of the Book, houses the Dead Sea Scrolls and artifacts discovered at Masada. It is one of the largest museums in the region.

The museum covers nearly 50,000 sq.meters and attracts 800,000 visitors a year, including 100,000 children who visit and attend classes in its Youth Wing.

History
Collections
Second Temple Era model of Jerusalem
Images for kids
See also

History

The Museum houses works dating from prehistory to the present day in its Archaeology, Fine Arts, and Jewish Art and Life Wings, and features extensive holdings of biblical and Land of Israel archaeology. Since its establishment in 1965, the Museum has built up a collection of nearly 500,000 objects, representing a broad sample of world material culture.

Collections

The museum today includes extensive collections of Judaica, ethnography, fine art, artifacts from Africa, North and South America, Oceania and the Far East, archeology, rare manuscripts, ancient glass and sculpture. A uniquely designed building on the grounds of the museum, the Shrine of the Book, houses the Dead Sea Scrolls and artifacts discovered on Masada. The late Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek was the driving spirit behind its establishment.The Israel Museum is the largest cultural institution in the State of Israel and is ranked among the leading art and archaeology museums in the world. Founded in 1965, the Museum houses encyclopedic collections, including the most extensive holdings of biblical and Holy Land archaeology in the world.

Second Temple Era model of Jerusalem

One of the most recent and exciting additions to the Museum is the Second Temple Era model of Jerusalem. The model reconstructs the topography and architectural character of the city as it was prior to 66 CE, the year in which the Great Revolt against the Romans erupted, leading to the eventual destruction of the city and the Temple. Originally constructed on the grounds of Jerusalem’s Holyland Hotel, the model is now a permanent feature of the Museum’s 20-acre (81,000 m²) campus.