One day when both Amber and Yonatan were otherwise occupied, Riva and I visited the Rockefeller Museum, something I've long wanted to do. And it was no disappointment.
Situated on Sultan Suleiman Street a few yards from the Damascus Gate, outsdide the Old City of Jerusalem, the building is a landmark architecturally, historiccaly and as a museum.
Historically, this museum represented a change in colonial policy when, in the 1920s, the British adopted the idea that they would no longer “export” antiquities from their country of origin to European museums, but would instead exhibit locally at least some of the finds that were a part of the national heritage of the middle east. Thus the history of the Rockefeller Museum parallels the establishment of the Department of Antiquities by the British Mandate government in 1920 and the development of Archaeology in Eretz-Israel. Although three archaeological museums existed in Eretz-Israel before the Rockefeller – the Franciscan Biblical Museum built in 1902; the Greek Orthodox Museum, built 1922; and the Islamic Museum on the Temple Mount built in 1923 – the first building constructed expressly as a national museum was the Palestine Archaeological Museum, named the Rockefeller Museum after, in 1926, John D Rockefeller Jr gave two million dollars to build and administer a museum in Jerusalem.
Nationalized by the Jordanians, and damaged in fighting, the museum has, since 1967 been under the management of the Israel Museum whilst being owned by, and housing the offices of, the Israel Antiquities Authority.
The museum – stunning in its own right – was designed by Austen St. Barbe Harrison, chief architect of the Mandatory Department of Public Works, who drew up blueprints for a white limestone building integrating eastern and western architectural elements, and opened to the public on January 13, 1938. The building is very detailed, down to the beautifully inscribed lettering in paint of carved in the stone, in English, then Arabic, then Hebrew – reflecting the British order of priority perhaps! The modern labels are in precisely the reverse order!
In my opinion the museum continues to display the best quality archaeological finds in the country, many of which are simply stunning. The museum seems hardly touched since British times, most of the exhibits being numbered rather than labelled (though there are multi-lingual sheets available identifying the pieces), so that it is not terribly “self-interpretive” for a modern visitor. But I like that it hasn’t been “modernized” and messed about with, albeit I could market it better for them and update their labelling. It has a feel of the Lady Lever Art Gallery on the Wirral, where I grew up in the UK, for its tranquillity and architecture, and seems to attract few visitors these days due to its position in Sultan Suleiman Street near the Damascus gate, scene of occasional trouble. Entry is free, but there is no shop or other things which might increase footfall. Long may it continue as it is, though I worry that if it does not change a little, it may not survive.
Entrance to the former Government of Palestine Department of Antiquities, now the headquarters of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Entrance to the former Government of Palestine Department of Antiquities, now the headquarters of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
The north gallery of the museum, displaying iron age, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Muslim, Crusader and Ottoman periods.
Entrance to the Library at the Rockefeller Museum.
Anthropomorphic clay coffin, Beit She'an, 12th century BCE.
Relief depicting a menorah from the Eshtemoa synagogue.
Lintel from the Torah niche at Nevoraya (Naburiya or Nabratein) Synagogue in the Upper Galilee, 3rd century CE. See also my post on our visit there.
In the 1930s, in the wake of a fire at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the two marble lintels over the entrance were removed to the Rockefeller Museum and have remained there to the present day in order to protect them. This is the eastern lintel which surmounted the door leading to Golgotha and the Chapel of Adam. Its decoration, which develops from the center outwards, features mythological creatures and naked human figures inside scrolls of foliage. Foliate scrolls without figures usually represent the divine nature. Here, however, the scrolls contain human figures as well as sirens, centaurs, birds of prey and hybrid creatures with the head of a goat, the body of a bird and the tail of a dragon – all of these are symbols of sin and seduction. Thus the lintel represents the forces of devil, the devil and infidels, and serves as counterpart to the western lintel with its message of triumph and salvation.
This is the westren lintel from the left door leading to the Holy Sepulchre, depicting events from the life of Jesus. The scenes, from left to right, depict the raising of Lazarus; the imploring of Christ by Mary and Martha; Christ giving instruction for the Last Supper; the entry into Jerusalem; and the Last Supper. However, since this sequence does not follow the sequence of events in the New Testament, it has been proposed that the panel actually should be read from the center outward. The large central panel, which is partly damaged, depicts the Expulsing of the Merchants and the Cleaning of the Temple, apparently alluding to the liberation of the Holy Sepulchre by the Crusaders. To the right of this panel is the entry into Jerusalem, pointing to the triumphal entry of the Crusaders into the city. This is followed on the far right by the Last Supper, which attests to Jesus’ human nature. The left side of the lintel is devoted to Jesus’ divine nature. As such, the panel to the left of the central panel, previously identified as the imploring of Christ by Mary and Martha, depicts the apparition of Christ after the resurrection, while the Raising of Lazarus, on the far left, prefigures the Resurrection of the dead.
5th century CE Hebrew inscription on a mosaic floor ("Peace unto Israel") from the synagogue at Ussfiya, now a Druze village on the Carmel mountain range. It is a quotation from psalms 125 and 128, familiar from synagogues and tombstones.
Srucco decorations and statues from Hisham's Palace at Khirbet el-Mafjar, Jericho, Umayyad period (first half of 8th century CE). This was the grandest and most elaborate palace of its time and, although called Hisham's Palace, it was probably built by Caliph al-Walid II. It was destroyed before completion by an earthquake in 747 CE. The decorative elements in the Rockefeller were in the palace and the baths. The style of decoration shows Persian (Sassananian), Byzantine and Coptic influences.
Srucco decorations and statues from Hisham's Palace at Khirbet el-Mafjar, Jericho, Umayyad period (first half of 8th century CE).
Srucco decorations and statues from Hisham's Palace at Khirbet el-Mafjar, Jericho, Umayyad period (first half of 8th century CE).
Srucco decorations and statues from Hisham's Palace at Khirbet el-Mafjar, Jericho, Umayyad period (first half of 8th century CE).
Srucco decorations and statues from Hisham's Palace at Khirbet el-Mafjar, Jericho, Umayyad period (first half of 8th century CE).
Carved wooden 8th century CE wooden panels from El-Aqsa mosque. Erected during the Umayyad period (first half of the 8th century CE) and rebuilt by the Abbasids after it was destroyed by an earthquake, the mosque was renovated in 1938 when the panels were removed and placed in the Rockefeller as well as the Haram Museum on the Temple Mount. The panels adorned the ceiling beams in the central nave. Their style belies their craftsmen, who were Coptic Christians from Syria or Egypt. It is possible that the beams, and the wood of the panels, was reused from the Holy Temple.
More carved wooden 8th century CE wooden panels from El-Aqsa mosque.
Riva inspecting the south gallery, exhibiting Paleilithic, Neolithic and Calcolithic periods and the Bronze age.
A Roman marble garland sarcophagus from the 3rd century CE found at Tel Mevorah. The open-mouthed mask indicates that the sarcophagus is from Asia-Minor.
Roman sarcophagus.
Byzantine capital.
An Imperial Roman marble basin from the first century CE, found at the 13th Century Crusader castle of Montfort, where it appears to have undergone a secondary use as a baptismal font or receptacle for holy water.
A Jewish sarcophagus of the second century CE from Beit Shearim, showing pagan images such as Leda and the Swan.
View of the Central Court, looking east from the niche towards the hexagonal tower, used as a lookout after its liberation in 1967.
The Central Court, looking west towards the niche.
The western niche of the Central Court.
Riva relaxing in the cool of the fountain of the shaded, tiled western niche of the Central Court.
The Armenian potter David Ohannessian (1884-1952) designed and made the tiles of the western niche of the Central Court, the most complicated of all his works, owing to the use of the cuerda seca ("dry line") technique. Their special designs do not appear on any of his other tiles. Born in a small village in eastern Anatolia in 1884, at the age of fourteen he joined a pottery workshop in Kutahya and within a short time became its owner. Ohanessian produced tiles and vessels and renovated buildings, some of them historical sites, in Turkey, Egypt, and Saudia Arabia. During the First World War, Ohannessian and his family were exiled to Syria. It was in Aleppo that he met the British diplomat Sir Mark Sykes, who was instrumental in bringing him to Palestine in 1918 to renovate the tiles of the Dome of the Rock. The ceramic workshop he established on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem was called "Dome of the Rock Tiles." It produced various types of ceramics and provided tiles for churches, cemeteries, and public buildings, among them Government House and, of course, the Rockefeller Museum. Ohannessian continued to work in Jerusalem until 1948, after which he relocated to Beirut, where he died four years later.
View of Mount Scopus from the entrance to the Rockefeller Museum.
Panorama from the front steps of the Rockefeller Museum – From the left: Har HaTsofim (Mount Scopus), Har Zeitim (Olivet) and the walls of the Old City.
A discarded cup silences the mother-in-law's tongue!
Old City walls, looking east from the forecourt of the Rockefeller Museum.
Old City walls, looking west towards Damascus Gate, from the forecourt of the Rockefeller Museum.
Re-used stone in the Old City walls.
I read that, inside what was to have been the rear courtyard of the museum stood (until it died after nearly 300 years in 1998) one of the oldest pine trees in the country. According to Arab legend, on the site of this pine tree, Ezra the Scribe sat and wrote the Torah for Israel. The stump may still be seen behind the museum.
Having thoroughly enjoyed the museum, we crossed Sultan Suleiman Street and entered the Muslim Quarter by way of Herod's Gate.
Herod's Gate Street, Muslim Quarter, Old City.
Herod's Gate Street, Muslim Quarter, Old City.
Before reaching the Temple Mount, where the call to prayer from Al-Aqsa was being given, we cut through to the Via Dolorosa and thence by way of the David Street shuk, to Jaffa gate, and thence to ancient Mamilla.
Via Dolorosa, approaching the Roman Catholic Church of the Condemnation and Imposition of the Cross, Muslim Quarter, Old City.
The Roman Catholic Church of the Flagellation, next to the Church of the Condemnation and Imposition of the Cross, Muslim Quarter, Old City.
Bridges, butresses, steps and ramps on HaNezirot Street, Muslim Quarter, Old City.
A mosque cum apartment block cum commercial premises on El Wad haGai Street where it meets the Via Dolorosa, Muslim Quarter.
Jewish symbols, doorway, Muslim Quarter, Old City. The Muslim quarter (which the international community describes as "occupied Arab East Jerusalem") was "occupied" by Jews, Muslims and Christians until the early twentieth century, and was historically a Jewish quarter in earlier times.
The author at a juice stall, David Street Shuk, where we had amazing fresh fruit juices, and coconut milk from the shell while we waited. It beat a sausage while you wait for your fish and chips in Liverpool!
Riva awaiting her juice at David Street shuk.
A good brisk climb up to the Jaffa Gate, followed by a walk along Mamilla Street, brought us to ancient Mamilla. Here are two things of historic interest: the pool and the cemetery. Mamilla Pool is one of several ancient reservoirs that supplied water to the inhabitants of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is located outside the walls of the Old City about 700 yards northwest of Jaffa Gate in the centre of the Mamilla Cemetery. With a capacity of 30,000 cubic metres, it is connected by an underground channel to Hezekiah's Pool in the Christian Quarter of the Old City. It was thought as possible that it has received water via the so-called Upper or High-Level Aqueduct from Solomon's Pools, but 2010 excavations have discovered the aqueduct's final segment at a much lower elevation near the Jaffa Gate, making it impossible to function as a feeding source for the Mamilla Pool. It fills a little in the rainy season.
The empty (summer level) Mamilla Pool.
Mamilla cemetery contains the remains of figures from the early Islamic period, several Sufi shrines and Mamluk-era tombs. The cemetery grounds also contain the bodies of thousands of Christians killed in the pre-Islamic era, as well as several tombs from the time of the Crusades. Its identity as an Islamic cemetery is noted by Arab and Persian writers as early as the 11th century. It was used as a burial site up until 1927 when the Supreme Muslim Council decided to preserve it as a historic site. Western Jerusalem has over the years encroached on the cemetery, though attempts to make political capital from this ignore the Waqf's pre-1948 policy of itself building on the land.
Mamilla Cemetery.
During the period of Mamluk rule (c. 12th-15th centuries), most of the area's notable citizens were buried in Mamilla. A structure known as al-Kebekiyeh (or Zawiya Kubakiyya), a one room square-shaped building covered with a dome and incorporating architectural materials from the Crusader era was built during this period. It is identified as the tomb of emir Aidughdi Kubaki, a Syrian slave who rose to prominence as the governor of Safed and Aleppo, before his death in 1289.
The al-Kebekiyeh (or Zawiya Kubakiyya), identified as the tomb of emir Aidughdi Kubaki, a Syrian slave who rose to prominence as the governor of Safed and Aleppo, before his death in 1289.
A structure on Ben Sira Street, beyond the current cemetery, but probably associated with it, since the cemetery formerly extended further than it does today.
The Italianate I Nahon Museum of Italian Jewish Art, Hillel Street.
Our walk ended at Hillel Street, just beyond Mamilla, at the Museum of Italian Jewish Art - but a visit inside was reserved for a future trip and, after a visit to the hairdressers for Riva, we took the bus back, hot and exhausted.