Museums Archives - Page 102 of 102

Woodland Museum of Biblical Archaeology to Open

Soon, Yolo County residents won’t have to travel to Israel for a tour of the Holy Land. Locals will be able to stop by the Woodland Museum of Biblical Archaeology at Woodland United Fellowship, 240 N. West St., to visit a collection of artifacts from Biblical times.
The museum’s humble beginnings began in the foyer of Woodland United Fellowship a year ago.
Pastor Carl Morgan began a display case with a few juglets and lamps from archaeological digs he participated in, and the collection continued to grow.
“We live in a time when the Bible has come under a lot of criticism and attack as not being reliable or authoritative,” Morgan said. “Archaeology allows us to see the geography and historicity of the Bible is correct. Many times, we’ve been able to find a name or a city (on a dig) associated with a Biblical event, and we’re able to say to the critics, ‘They’re not myths. The Bible is accurate.’ It also helps build your faith.”
On the west wall of the museum artifacts from mainly the Middle Bronze Age (2200 BC to 1550 BC) will be displayed. Visitors will find sling stones, which were used as weapons and swung with a leather strap. They will also see swords from 2000 BC and a sacrificial knife from the time of Abraham.
There is pottery dated beyond 3000 BC and a battle-axe on display that dates at least 500 years before the time of Abraham.
“That’s the oldest piece of metal you’ll ever hold,” Morgan said.

The story continues here. If they’ll let you hold it, they’ll probably let you take a picture of it as well.

Which is something you won’t get at many other museums. Woodland is 20 miles northwest of Sacramento.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Museums, New Exhibits

Museum in Gaza to Open

The International Herald Tribune has the story:

It may sound like the escapist indulgence of a well-fed man fleeing the misery around him. But when Jawdat Khoudary opens the first ever museum of archaeology in Gaza this month, it will be an act of Palestinian patriotism, showing how this increasingly poor and isolated coastal strip ruled by the Islamists of Hamas was once a thriving multicultural crossroad.

Now only if there was a way for non-Palestinians to get there. If he’s depending on revenue from Palestinians interested in history, he is going to be a poor man.

The exhibit is housed in a stunning hall made up partly of the saved stones of old houses, discarded wood ties of a former railroad and bronze lamps and marble columns uncovered by Gazan fishermen and construction workers.
And while the display might be pretty standard stuff almost anywhere else – arrowheads, Roman anchors, Bronze Age vases and Byzantine columns – life is currently so gray in Gaza that the museum, with its glimpses of a rich outward-looking history, seems somehow dazzling.
“The idea is to show our deep roots from many cultures in Gaza,” Khoudary said as he sat in the lush, antiquities-filled garden of his Gaza City home a few miles from the museum. “It’s important that people realize we had a good civilization in the past. Israel has legitimacy from its history. We do too.”

Someone’s going to have to explain this one to me. I’m not sure how Roman or Byzantine antiquities have anything to do with the legitimacy of Palestinian Arabs.

It’s a good article with a nice photo. I recommend reading the whole thing, and I hope the venture is successful.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Museums, New Exhibits

National Bible Museum to be built

This item came out a few weeks ago, but seems interesting enough to mention for those who might not have seen it elsewhere.

A Cornerstone [Grand Rapids, Michigan] history professor is working to create a first-of-its-kind Bible museum in Dallas, Texas, to house thousands of artifacts relating to the Bible and provide education. Scott Carroll, professor of history, has been working with donors and others in academia to create the National Bible Museum to house the largest collection of artifacts about the Bible. The goal of this museum is to become “the Smithsonian of biblical antiquities,” he said. “To get the same experience now someone would have to travel across the world.” For the past five years, Carroll, and historian, Jonathan Shipman, have been conceptualizing and raising money for the project. The museum will be funded by one family “who wants the museum to be part of their legacy,” said Carroll. Several major donors are now interested. “We are in the final stages of acquiring a 900,000-square-foot facility that sits on 22 acres in downtown Dallas,” said Carroll. The building will cost $300 million and is being paid for by a family that Carroll is working with, whose name he declined to disclose. The museum will be comprised of 20 halls, each half the size of a football field that will contain artifacts and illustrations of the preservation of the Bible during a different period of history. One donor has offered to build exact replicas of as many ancient monuments as the museum wants, Carroll said. The facility will be completed in about three years and will employ more than 200 staff and 15 faculty members with doctoral degrees. Carroll said he wants the museum to be a place where the media can go to get an authoritative Christian answer if there are questions concerning the Bible or a new discovery. Educational programs are being planned by the museum staff for public schools, universities and seminaries. Carroll will serve as chief executive officer of the museum with duties to include “making sure the museum stays true to its vision, overseeing development of the collection, continuing research and speaking and resuming an excavation in Egypt.”

Tagged Museums

Tel Dan Inscription at Israel Museum

If you’re in Israel this summer, you may be disappointed that the Archaeology wing of the Israel Museum is closed for renovation (until 2010 or so). But some students of mine yesterday were going through other sections of the museum and found the Tel Dan Inscription displayed in the Youth wing. The anthropoid sarcophagi are also on display.

The Isaiah Scroll is on display now until the end of August. While two shorter sections of the scroll have been rotated on the permanent display over the years, the two longest sections have not been displayed since 1967. Visitors can now see Isaiah 1-28 and 44-66.

Update (5/21): The above has been corrected to reflect that the inscription is in the Youth wing.

Tagged Museums, New Exhibits

New Temple Replica Coming to Jerusalem

Ynet is reporting that Aish HaTorah is currently building a large museum opposite the Western Wall which will feature “an elaborated massive replica of the Temple.” The rest of the brief article discusses the museum and no other details are given about the model.

The three-storey museum, whose construction is valued at nearly $20 million will be erected in the Aish HaTorah (“Fire of the Torah”) Yeshiva complex. The museum will feature a journey through Jewish history, from the days of Abraham to the present, emphasizing the message and significance of the Jewish people’s presence in the Land of Israel and their degree of accomplishment in world improvement….
In addition to the great lavish interior, the museum’s crowning glory is no doubt the massive amphitheater, whose cost is being sponsored by veteran Hollywood star Kirk Douglas, and his no less famous son, Michael.
The amphitheater will feature a three-dimensional film depicting the history of the Jewish nation over a huge glass screen through which one can see the Western Wall. The museum will also include a learning center with a VIP wing to host movie stars, politicians and other celebrities from Israel and abroad.

The brief article is here.

The Aish HaTorah building is on the left, marked with an arrow.

Tagged Jerusalem, Museums

Lesser Known Museums in Israel

The Jerusalem Post has a short article on the work of the Council of Restoration and Preservation of Historic Sites in Israel. Most of those singled out are kibbutz museums, which are usually ignored by tourists. If you live in Israel, or plan to be back for the third – or thirtieth – time, you might find a few sites to add to your list.

For a small country, Israel has an amazing number of historic sites and museums. But then, the entire country is a museum and open history book in itself. There hardly seems to be a place, certainly in the central and northern parts of the country, where there isn’t a sign at the roadside pointing to some historical site from any time period ranging from the Biblical to recent history….
Some years ago, an overseas visitor commented after a trip through the Galilee that northern Israel seemed to him to be one huge park and picnic ground!…
Founded over 20 years ago, the council maintains a long list’s worth of sites and monuments and, working industriously alongside other organizations and special interest groups, has successfully restored important sites throughout the country dedicated to protecting Israel’s rich heritage….
Under the motto “Our future, inspired by our past,” the council identifies, restores, conserves and protects major heritage buildings and sites associated with Israel’s rebirth, beginning in 1860, the time the first settlement outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City was established.

The rest is here.

Kibbutz Nahsholim Museum: Marine Archaeology and Tel Dor Excavations

“House of Anchors” Fishing Museum at Kibbutz En Gev

Tagged Museums