Hevel Lakhish ( Hebrew : חבל לכיש , lit. Lakhish Region ) is an area of south-central Israel . Part of the southern Shephelah , it is located between the Judean Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea and is named after the Biblical city of Lachish .
81-671: In ancient times, the main road through the Lachish region ran from the port city of Gaza through Gath, Lachish , Maresha , Azekah , the Elah Valley and the Ayalon Valley before turning east through the Beit Horon Ascent, to the Hill Road and Jerusalem . A break-off road ran from Maresha to the Hill Road at Hebron . Before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War , three kibbutzim were founded in
162-746: A broad sample of world material culture. On October 25, 2017, Ido Bruno was appointed Director of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem as the Anne and Jerome Fisher Director. Bruno served as a professor in the Industrial Design Department of the Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design , Jerusalem. He brings to the position decades of experience as a curator and designer of exhibitions presented in Israel and across
243-716: A comparative display of two shrines (8th–7th century BCE); the Heliodorus Stele (178 BCE), royal Herodian bathhouse (1st century BCE); Hadrian 's Triumph: inscription from a triumphal arch (136 CE), the Mosaic of Rehob (3rd century CE) and gold-glass bases from the Roman catacombs (4th century CE); and the Ossuary of Jesus son of Joseph . The Shrine of the Book houses the Dead Sea Scrolls ,
324-415: A fragmentary early alphabetic inscription. The remaining nine letters, nine of them in three lines, are perfectly discernable, but they cannot be convincingly combined into words and the words into a text. The undecipherable inscription still is of great palaeographic interest, given the scarcity of Late Bronze Age West Semitic inscriptions found in controlled excavations, as it adds to our knowledge about
405-572: A generation" find. A fifth expedition, running from 2015 to 2016, was conducted as part of developing the site as a national park. A gate shrine of Level III, destroyed during the Assyrian assault and a toilet installation were found. It has been suggested that the toilet, in a gate shrine, was part of Hezekiah's campaign against idolatry. Two altars in the shrine also had their horns damaged in possible desecration. The Korean Lachish Excavation Team led by Hong Soon-hwa, reported that they had "uncovered
486-413: A historic house and garden setting. The Israel Museum receives only 10% to 12% of its operating budget from state and municipal sources. The Israeli government provides varying amounts of funds each year. The institution must raise 88% of its yearly operating budget, all of its $ 200 million endowment and $ 100 million for its recent capital project, while paying 17.5% VAT as well as real-estate taxes on
567-505: 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 in 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. Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek was the driving spirit behind the establishment of
648-670: A number of scarab sealings. These were of "both the local Canaanite MB IIC style and the Hyksos style". Radiocarbon dating produced a date in the mid-16th century BCE. By the end of Middle Bronze IIC the city was destroyed by fire. Some features originally ascribed to the Iron Age by the early excavators have now been redated to the MBA and LBA. In the Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 BCE), Lachish was re-established and developed slowly, eventually becoming one of
729-593: A variety of workshops for children and adults. In addition to the extensive programming offered on its main campus, the Israel Museum also operates two off-site locations: the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum that opened in 1938 for the display of artifacts unearthed mainly in the excavations conducted in Mandatory Palestine , in the 1920s and 1930s; and Ticho House , which offers an ongoing program of exhibitions by younger Israeli artists in
810-423: A vivid cultural tapestry weaving together the individual and the communal, the sacred and the mundane, the heritage of the past and the creative innovations of the present. Five principal themes unfold as you walk through the galleries: The Information Center has a research library and a unique archival collection, constantly growing, of some twenty thousand photographs. Many of them are extremely rare, documenting
891-578: A wide range of 10th century BCE items, from houses with earthenware items and cooking stoves, to animal bones, olive seeds, spearheads, fortress walls and other objects" on July 5, 2017. Since 2017, the Austro-Israeli excavation is exploring the Middle and Late Bronze Age strata at the site. The project is conducted a joint project of Hebrew University and the Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology of
SECTION 10
#1732868817200972-490: A wide variety of ceremonial and ritual objects, as well as diverse material culture including dress, jewelry, and everyday artifacts. In the new permanent display, important objects drawn from this extensive collection from the public and the private realm, are integrated into a multifaceted narrative. This comparative display explores the objects' history and the social context in which they were used while underscoring their aesthetic qualities and emotional resonance. It reflects
1053-766: Is a 20- dunam garden featuring modern and abstract sculptures. The garden, designed for the original campus by Japanese American sculptor Isamu Noguchi , is counted among the finest outdoor sculpture settings of the 20th century. An Oriental landscape combined with an ancient Jerusalem hillside; the garden serves as the backdrop for the Israel Museum's display of the evolution of the modern western sculptural tradition. On view are works by modern masters including Jacques Lipchitz , Henry Moore , Claes Oldenburg , Pablo Picasso , Auguste Rodin , and David Smith , together with more recent site-specific commissions by such artists as Magdalena Abakanowicz , Mark Dion , James Turrell , and Micha Ullman . The Ruth Youth Wing for Art Education
1134-473: Is central to its mission. As the country's national museum, it plays a major role in preserving Israel's artistic heritage by collecting works by Israeli artists - in Israel and abroad - and by encouraging Israel's artists to develop in their careers. The museum's Israeli Art collection spans the late 19th century through today, and it reflects the evolution of Israel's cultural history in the visual arts. The Information Center for Israeli Art provides scholars and
1215-567: Is described by the excavators as a name list with allocated provisions in Canaanite. As many as 12 purported Proto-Canaanite inscriptions had been discovered at Lachish by 2022. Six were discovered in the Starkey-Tufnell excavations, two during the renewed excavations by Ussishkin, and four in more recent excavations. At least three of the purported inscriptions are likely to have been merely figural pottery designs or pseudo-inscriptions Among
1296-681: Is from the 10th-century and is believed to be the oldest Bible codex in Hebrew. Adjacent to the Shrine of the Book is the Model of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period , which reconstructs the topography and architectural character of the city as it was prior to its destruction by the Romans in 70 CE and provides historical context to the Shrine's presentation of the Dead Sea Scrolls . Originally constructed on
1377-542: Is strong but circumstantial, based mostly on the geographic location of the site, the writing of Eusebius , the royal reliefs of Sennacherib, the site excavations, and an ostracon found there. Israeli archaeologist and historical geographer, M. Avi-Yonah , thought to place Lachish at the ancient ruin of Qobebet Ibn ‘Awwad , near the former Palestinian Arab village by the same name, rather than at Tell ed Duweir . The place has been extensively excavated. The first expedition at Lachish, then Tell ed-Duweir, from 1932 to 1939,
1458-422: Is thanks to the work of David Ussishkin 's team that eight of these stamped jars were restored, thereby demonstrating lack of relevance between the jar volumes (which deviated as much as 5 gallons or 12 litres ), and also proving their relation to the reign of Biblical king Hezekiah . Ussishkin observed that "The renewed excavations confirmed Tufnell's suggestion that Level III had been destroyed in 701 BCE. All
1539-572: The Austrian Academy of Sciences and is co-directed by Felix Höflmayer and Katharina Streit. The project is funded by the Austrian Science Fund . In 2018 a pottery sherd, dated to the 15th century BCE, was found with alphabetic text. This fills a gap in the development history of alphabetic writing. In 2019 a hieratic ostracon was found, dated to the time of the Egyptian 18th Dynasty. It
1620-809: The Bible Lands Museum , the National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel , the Knesset , the Israeli Supreme Court , and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem . The Israel Museum houses a collection of approximately 500,000 items. Its holdings include the world's most comprehensive collections of the archaeology of the Holy Land , and Jewish art and life, as well as significant and extensive holdings in
1701-579: The Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The siege ramp at Lachish, designed for deploying battering rams against the city during the Neo-Assyrian siege, is the oldest known in the world and the sole example found in the ancient Near East . Occupation at the site of Lachish began during the Pottery Neolithic period (5500–4500 BCE). Flint tools from that period have been found. Major development began in
SECTION 20
#17328688172001782-468: The Late Bronze (1550–1200 BCE) and Iron Age (1200–587 BCE) levels. The Ussishkin expedition's comprehensive 5-volume report set a new standard in archaeological publication. According to Yosef Garfinkel , "The Starkey-Tufnell and Ussishkin expeditions set new standards in excavation and publication. They revolutionized our understanding of various aspects of Lachish, such as the later history of Judah and
1863-625: The pharaoh and were discovered as part of the Amarna archive. It is mentioned in the Amarna letters as Lakisha/Lakiša (EA 287, 288, 328, 329, 335). During the 20th Dynasty of Egypt , the empire of the New Kingdom of Egypt started to lose its control in the Southern Levant . A bronze object bearing the cartouche of Ramesses III may be associated with the city gate. While Lachish had prospered under Egyptian hegemony, fire destroyed it around 1150 BCE. It
1944-563: The Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, Asian Art, Photography , Design and Architecture and Prints and Drawings. Installations are organized to underscore visual affinities and shared themes and to inspire new insight into the arts of different times and places, as well as an appreciation of the common threads of human culture. The reconfigured wing includes the museum's first permanent galleries for Israeli art, more than doubled gallery space for
2025-664: The Early Bronze Age (3300–3000 BCE). By the end of the Early Bronze, Lachish had become a large settlement. Most of the recovered pottery is of Khirbet Kerak Ware . The MBA period has not been extensively excavated at the site. During the Middle Bronze (2000–1650 BCE), the settlement developed. In the Middle Bronze I, the mound was resettled. Remains of a cult place and an assemblage of votive cultic vessels were found in Area D. In
2106-519: The Fosse Temple III at Level VII, which dates it back to the 13th century BCE. The Lachish bowl was discovered in Tomb 527 at Lachish Level VII, dated to the 13th century BCE. The Lachish bowl fragment was discovered in a Level VII context and dated to the 12th century BCE. The "Lachish jar sherd", found in 2014 in a stratigraphic context (Level VI) which allows dating it to around 1130 BCE, contains
2187-401: The Iron Age history of the site on behalf of the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Institute of Archaeology, Southern Adventist University . Other consortium institutions include Virginia Commonwealth University , Oakland University and Korea Biblical Geography Research Institute. The excavations were concentrated in the northeast corner of the site near
2268-452: The Israel Museum, one of the leading art and archaeology museums in the world. 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 May 1965, the museum has built up a collection of nearly 500,000 objects, representing
2349-638: The Late Bronze Age but the burials contained few dateable elements so it is uncertain if the burials date to the LBA or later. Rebuilding of the city began in the Early Iron Age , during the 10th and 9th centuries BCE, when it was part of the Kingdom of Judah . The unfortified settlement may have been destroyed c. 925 BCE by the pharaoh Shoshenq I , founder of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt . In
2430-602: The Middle Bronze IIA, the development continued. In the Middle Bronze IIB-C, Lachish became a major city in the Southern Levant. An impressive glacis -like structure was constructed around the city, which shaped its present steep slopes and sharp corners. The proposed glacis fronted a city wall built of massive stones. In Area P, a large mudbrick fortress was excavated. Finds from the fortress include 4 scarabs and
2511-513: The Sons of Light and the black wall symbolizes the Sons of Darkness. The interior of the shrine was designed to depict the environment in which the scrolls were found. There is also a permanent display on life in the Qumran, where the scrolls were written. The entire structure was designed to resemble a pot in which the scrolls were found. The shrine was designed by Armand Bartos and Frederick Kiesler , and
Hevel Lakhish - Misplaced Pages Continue
2592-597: The Stieglitz Collection and the Feuchtwanger Collection for Jewish ritual objects, Torah scroll ornaments, and life cycle objects, as well as the Schulmann Collection and Rathjens Collection for North African and Yemenite material culture, dress, jewelry and ritual objects. The wing's collection contains many unique treasures, among them, are rare manuscripts, four reconstructed synagogue interiors,
2673-508: The Studio (1952), Ohad Meromi , and The Boy from South Tel Aviv (2001). The Israel Museum holds a large collection of paintings representing a wide range of periods, styles, subjects, and regions of origin. Painters in the collection include such international figures as Rembrandt and Camille Pissarro as well as such Israeli and Jewish artists as Marc Chagall , Abel Pann , and Reuven Rubin . The Israel Museum's commitment to Israeli art
2754-459: The archaeological finds, they give a good understanding of siege warfare of the period. Modern excavation of the site has revealed that the Assyrians built a stone and dirt ramp up to the level of the Lachish city wall, thereby allowing the soldiers to charge up the ramp and storm the city. Excavations revealed approximately 1500 skulls in one of the caves near the site, and hundreds of arrowheads on
2835-610: The area - Gal On , Gat and Negba . Between 1955 and 1961 twenty more settlements were established. Lova Eliav was a driving force in the development of the region. The area is covered by three regional councils - Lakhish , Shafir and Yoav - and one city council , Kiryat Gat . In the year 2009 70,200 people lived in the region, 100% of them Jews. 31°37′53″N 34°42′40″E / 31.63139°N 34.71111°E / 31.63139; 34.71111 Tel Lachish Lachish ( Hebrew : לכיש , romanized : Lāḵîš ; Koinē Greek : Λαχίς ; Latin : Lachis )
2916-625: The campus property. The most active of the international support groups of the museum, the American Friends of the Israel Museum, raised $ 270 million in cash, of which $ 47 million is in endowment funds, and donated $ 210 million in the art from 1972 to 2008. In 2009, the Israel Museum received $ 12 million from the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation, towards the renovation, reinstallation, and endowment of its fine arts wing, which will be renamed after Edmond and Lily Safra . As of 2012, attendance
2997-585: The commander of the garrison at Lachish shortly before it fell to the Babylonians in either 589 or 586 B.C." Starkey was murdered in 1938 while travelling to Jerusalem to open the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum . Tufnell, Harding and Inge remained for the 1938–9 season. Tufnell returned to London and over the next two decades, worked at the Institute of Archaeology in London, "sorting, collating, studying and presenting
3078-470: The country against enemies who usually approached from the coast. In 701 BCE, during the revolt of Hezekiah , king of Judah, against the Neo-Assyrian Empire, it was besieged and captured by Sennacherib despite the defenders' determined resistance. Some scholars believe that the fall of Lachish occurred during a second campaign in the area by Sennacherib ca. 688 BCE. The site now contains
3159-399: The daily life of Jewish communities around the world, some no longer exist, including images of synagogues, cemeteries, ceremonial objects and many other subjects. The information center offers access to resources of the collections as well as virtual tours in former exhibitions in order to broaden and deepen knowledge behind the objects in the wing's collections. The Billy Rose Art Garden
3240-588: The evolution of alphabetic script. The first archaeological expedition, the Starkey-Starkey-Tufnell (1932–1939) uncovered the Lachish letters, which were "written to the commander of the garrison at Lachish shortly before it fell to the Babylonians in either 589 or 586 B.C." The Hebrew letters were written on pieces of pottery, so-called ostraca . Eighteen letters were found in 1935 and three more in 1938, all written in Paleo-Hebrew script . They were from
3321-505: The find in the international press. Subsequently the Israel Antiquities Authority issued a statement saying that the sherd was not authentic and had been created by an expert demonstrating inscription techniques to her students. She had come forward after the publicity surrounding the find, and explained she had used an original scrap of worthless pottery from the site and engraved the writing on it. She then discarded it at
Hevel Lakhish - Misplaced Pages Continue
3402-475: The findings in his 1975 publication, Investigations at Lachish: The sanctuary and the residency . The third expedition, 1973 and 1994, by a Tel Aviv University Institute of Archaeology and Israel Exploration Society team was led by David Ussishkin . Excavation and restoration work was conducted between 1973 and 1994 by a Tel Aviv University Institute of Archaeology and Israel Exploration Society team led by David Ussishkin . The excavation focused on
3483-543: The fine arts, the latter encompassing eleven separate departments: Israeli Art , European Art , Modern Art, Contemporary Art , Prints and Drawings, Photography , Design and Architecture, Asian Art , African Art , Oceanian Art , and Arts of the Americas. 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 ,
3564-451: The first half of the 9th century BCE, under the Judahite kings Asa and Jehoshaphat , Lachish became an important city in the kingdom. It was heavily fortified with massive walls and ramparts. A royal palace was built on a platform in the center of the city. Lachish was the foremost among several towns and fortified strongholds guarding the valleys that lead up to Jerusalem and the interior of
3645-634: The first time that an inscription bearing the name of Darius the Great had been found in the territory of Yehud Medinata , then a province of the Achaemenid Empire ruled by Darius. Levy reported it to Saar Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority —the director of excavations at Tel Lachish—who concluded after laboratory testing that the sherd was authentic, probably a receipt for goods received or shipped. This led to widespread coverage of
3726-544: The foremost holding in the world. Organized chronologically, from prehistory through the Ottoman Empire, the transformed wing presents seven "chapters" of this archaeological narrative, weaving together momentous historical events, cultural achievements, and technological advances, while providing a glimpse into the everyday lives of the peoples of the region. This narrative is supplemented by thematic groupings highlighting aspects of ancient Israeli archaeology that are unique to
3807-621: The grounds of Jerusalem's Holyland Hotel, the model, which includes a replica of Herod's Temple , is now a permanent feature of the museum's 20-acre (81,000 m ) campus. The Edmond and Lily Safra Fine Arts Wing reflects the wide-ranging, interdisciplinary nature of the museum's collections, encompassing works of art from across the ages in Western and non-Western cultures. The wing has been reorganized to highlight connections among works from its diverse curatorial collections, which include European Art , Modern Art , Contemporary Art , Israeli Art ,
3888-571: The king". More of these artifacts were found at this site (over 400; Ussishkin, 2004, pp. 2151–9) than any other place in Israel ( Jerusalem remains in second place with more than 300). Most of them were collected from the surface during Starkey 's excavations, but others were found in Level 1 ( Persian and Greek era), Level 2 (period preceding Babylonian conquest by Nebuchadnezzar ), and Level 3 (period preceding Assyrian conquest by Sennacherib ). It
3969-651: The large and prosperous cities of the Southern Levant. It is first attested as rkjšꜣ ( Lakisha ) in a New Kingdom text, the Papyrus Hermitage 1116A . Lakhish came under the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt , which expelled the Hyksos and established an empire that was most powerful following the military campaigns of Thutmose III . During the Amarna Period ( c. 1350 BCE ), several letters were written to
4050-536: The last two Judean cities to fall to the Neo-Babylonian Empire before the conquest of Jerusalem according to Jeremiah 34 :7. One of the Lachish letters , written in 597–587 BCE, warns of the impending Neo-Babylonian destruction. It reads: "Let my lord know that we are watching over the beacon of Lachish, according to the signals which my lord gave, for Azekah is not seen." This pottery inscription can be seen at
4131-419: The latest occupational level immediately before the Babylonian siege of 587 BCE . At the time, they formed the only known corpus of documents in classical Hebrew that had come down to us outside of the Hebrew Bible. Another major contribution to Biblical archaeology from excavations at Lachish are the LMLK seals , which were stamped on the handles of a particular form of ancient storage jar, meaning "of
SECTION 50
#17328688172004212-401: The location of the Middle Bronze Age gate and fortress. In the topsoil, unstratified, was found a dark blue diorite scarab of the Egyptian New Kingdom period. In 2014, during the Fourth Expedition to Lachish, led by archaeologist Saar Ganor , a small potsherd with letters from a 12th-century BCE alphabet, was found in the ruins of a Late Bronze Age temple. One researcher called it, a "once in
4293-443: The material found at Lachish". She completed her final publication Lachish IV in 1957. She had already become a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1951. The second was an Israeli expedition directed by Yohanan Aharoni that took place over two seasons in 1966 and 1968. The dig, which focused mainly on the "Solar Shrine", was worked on behalf of Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University . Aharoni published
4374-405: The museum was housed in a series of masonry buildings designed by the Russian-born Israeli architect Alfred Mansfeld . A $ 100-million campaign to renovate the museum and double its gallery space was completed by Israeli architects Efrat-Kowalsky Architects who renovated the existing buildings in July 2010. The wings for archaeology, the fine arts, and Jewish art and life were completely rebuilt and
4455-517: The museum's extensive collections in modern art, providing meaningful connecting points between Western and non-Western holdings, and a full 2,200-square-meter (7,200-square-foot) gallery floor devoted to changing displays from the museum's collection of contemporary art. Highlights newly on view include The Noel and Harriette Levine Photography Collection, The Jacques Lipchitz Collection, Gustave Courbet , Jura Landscape with Shepherd and Donkey (c. 1866), Alberto Giacometti , Alfred Barye , Diego in
4536-401: The oldest biblical manuscripts in the world, as well as rare early medieval biblical manuscripts. The scrolls were discovered in 1947–56 in 11 caves in and around the site of Qumran . An elaborate planning process of seven years led to the building's eventual construction in 1965. This was funded by the family of David Samuel Gottesman , a Hungarian émigré, the philanthropist who had purchased
4617-476: The only remains of an Assyrian siege ramp discovered. Sennacherib later devoted a whole room in his "Palace without a rival", the southwest palace in Nineveh , for artistic representations of the siege on large alabaster slabs, most of which are now on display in the British Museum . They hold depictions of Assyrian siege ramps, battering rams, sappers, and other siege machines and army units, along with Lachish's architecture and its final surrender. Combined with
4698-406: The original buildings were linked through a new entrance pavilion. The passageways that connect between the buildings and five new pavilions were designed by James Carpenter . The Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Archaeology Wing tells the story of the ancient Land of Israel, home to peoples of different cultures and faiths, using unique examples from the museum's collection of Holy Land archaeology,
4779-406: The pre-Israelite Late Bronze Age Canaanite city." Excavations of Tel Lachish continued in 2012 under the auspices of Tel Aviv University's Institute of Archaeology, conducted by Nissim Golding-Meir. A Linear A inscription was also found at the site. In 2013, a fourth expedition to Lachish was begun under the direction of Yosef Garfinkel , Michael G. Hasel, and Martin G. Klingbeil to investigate
4860-479: The present day. The collection reflects the depth and beauty of Jewish heritage and creativity as well as the aesthetic and stylistic influences of other cultures in places where Jews lived. The origins of the collection can be traced to the early twentieth century with the establishment of the Bezalel National Museum under the directorship of Mordechai Narkiss , who expanded significantly the collection of ritual art objects through important treasures rescued between
4941-403: The present-day moshav of Lakhish , which was named in honor of the ancient city. Lachish was first mentioned in the Amarna letters . In the Book of Joshua , Lachish is cited as one of the cities conquered by the Israelites for joining the league against the Gibeonites ( Joshua 10:31–33 ). The territory was later assigned to the tribe of Judah according to Joshua 15 :39 and became part of
SECTION 60
#17328688172005022-403: The public with comprehensive archival information on several thousand Israeli artists, including biographical notes, press materials, videos, photographs, and other forms of documentation. The holdings of the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Wing for Jewish Art and Life represent the religious and secular material culture of Jewish communities worldwide, spanning centuries from the Middle Ages to
5103-404: The ramp and at the top of the city wall, indicating the ferocity of the battle. The city occupied an area of 8 hectares (20 acres) . Lachish fell to the Neo-Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar II in his campaign against Judah in 586 BCE. The city was finally destroyed in 587 BCE. Residents were exiled as part of the Babylonian captivity. During Babylonian occupation, a large residence
5184-493: The region's history, among them Hebrew writing, glass, and coins. Treasures from neighboring cultures that have had a decisive impact on the Land of Israel – such as Egypt , the Near East , Greece and Italy , and the Islamic world – are on view in adjacent and connecting galleries. A special gallery at the entrance to the wing showcases new findings and other temporary exhibition displays. Highlights on view include Pilate Stone , "House of David" inscription (9th century BCE),
5265-447: The royal storage jars, stamped and unstamped alike, date to the reign of Hezekiah, to shortly before the Assyrian conquest.' In 2022, Eylon Levy , an adviser to the Israeli president Isaac Herzog , found an inscribed potsherd while visiting Tel Lachish. The sherd bore an Aramaic inscription that read "Year 24 of Darius," which if genuine would have indicated a date of 498 BCE. The find appeared significant, because it would have been
5346-422: The scrolls as a gift to the State of Israel. The building consists of a white dome over a building located two-thirds below the ground. The dome is reflected in a pool of water that surrounds it. Across from the white dome is a black basalt wall. The colors and shapes of the building are based on the imagery of the scroll of the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness ; the white dome symbolizes
5427-416: The tourist section . Israel Museum The Israel Museum ( Hebrew : מוזיאון ישראל , Muze'on Yisrael , Arabic : متحف إسرائيل ) is an art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem . It was established in 1965 as Israel 's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading encyclopaedic museums . It is situated on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, adjacent to
5508-482: The two world wars and after the Holocaust . Later on, this treasure was integrated in the newly established Israel Museum in 1965 into the departments of Jewish Art and of Jewish Ethnography. In 1995 they were united into a new independent wing. Over the years, the wing's holdings have been strengthened through gifts and acquisitions of individual objects, gifts of private collections, and fieldwork within communities in Israel and abroad. The wing's prominent collections are
5589-444: The united Kingdom of Israel . Following the kingdom's partition, Lachish emerged as one of the most important cities in the Kingdom of Judah , second only to the capital, Jerusalem . Lachish is best known for its siege and conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 701 BCE, an event famously depicted on the Lachish reliefs , which can be seen today in the British Museum . According to the Book of Jeremiah , Lachish and Azekah were
5670-436: The well-known legitimate inscriptions are the Lachish Ewer, Lachish Bowl, the Cypriot Bowl Fragment, and the Ivory Lice Comb. The few known inscriptions from the Late Bronze Age, the 13th and part of the 12th century BCE, show a certain " linearisation " when compared to the earlier, Proto-Sinaitic script , but the undergone process is not yet understood. In 2016, an inscribed elephant ivory lice comb dating to about 1700 BCE
5751-452: The world with a focus on art, archeology, science, and history. He was unanimously elected by the museum's board of directors, chaired by Isaac Molho, following an extensive search and review process of candidates from Israel and abroad. Bruno assumed his position at the museum in November 2017. Denis Weil , formerly Dean of the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology , became Museum Director in March 2020. From 1965,
5832-517: Was about 827,000 per year. Among the prizes awarded by the museum is the Jesselson Prize for Contemporary Judaica Design, which recognizes outstanding design of Jewish ritual objects. Winners include Moshe Zabari (1990). On 5 October 2023, a 40-year-old Jewish-American tourist was arrested at the museum after hurling a marble head of the Greek goddess Athena and a statue of a griffin grasping
5913-667: Was an ancient Israelite city in the Shephelah ("lowlands of Judea") region of Canaan on the south bank of the Lakhish River mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible . The current tell by that name, known as Tel Lachish ( Hebrew : תל לכיש ) or Tell el-Duweir ( تل الدوير ), has been identified with Lachish. Today, it is an Israeli national park operated and maintained by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority . It lies near
5994-560: Was built on the platform that had once supported the Israelite palace. At the end of the captivity, some exiled Jews returned to Lachish and built a new city with fortifications. Under the Achaemenid Empire (Level I), a large altar known as the Solar Shrine on the east section of the mound was built. The shrine was abandoned after the area fell in the hands of Alexander the Great . The tell has been unoccupied since then. Initially, Lachish
6075-472: Was discovered, dating to the mid fifteenth century BCE. The inscription consists of nine letters. The authors of the editio princeps offer to read two words on the inscription, ʿbd meaning "servant, slave" and npt meaning "honey, nectar." The inscription is, however, too fragmentary to suggest much else but represents one of the earliest examples of alphabetic writing from the Levant. Inscribed ewer, found in
6156-483: Was found at Lachish during the Garfinkel excavations. The find is purported to bear the oldest sentence found written in the early Canaanite script . In the editio princeps , the authors suggest to read 15 letters, constituent of a wish to eradicate lice. They offer the following translation: "May this tusk root out the lice of the hai[r and the] beard." In 2018, an inked rim fragment of a Cypriot White Slip II milk bowl
6237-465: Was identified by Flinders Petrie with Tell el-Hesi , an identification supported when a relevant cuneiform tablet was found there. The tablet mentions Zimredda a governor of who is known from one of the Amarna Letters (EA 333). The current identification of Tell ed-Duweir as Lachish was first suggested by William F. Albright in 1929 and subsequently accepted by many scholars. This suggestion
6318-454: Was opened in 1965. As the fragility of the scrolls makes it impossible to display them all on a continuous basis, a system of rotation is used. After a scroll has been exhibited for 3–6 months, it is removed from its showcase and placed temporarily in a special storeroom, where it "rests" from exposure. The museum also holds other rare ancient manuscripts and displays the Aleppo Codex , which
6399-548: Was opened in 1966. It is unique in its size and scope of activities, presents a wide range of programming to more than 100,000 schoolchildren each year, and features exhibition galleries, art studios, classrooms, a library of illustrated children's books, and a recycling room. Special programs foster intercultural understanding between Arab and Jewish students and reach out to the wide spectrum of Israel's communities. The wing combines annual original artworks of Israeli and international artists, with educational activities. There are also
6480-508: Was rebuilt by Canaanites, who built two temples. However, this settlement was soon destroyed by another fire around 1130 BCE (cf. nearby fortified Eglon, Canaan ). The site then remained sparsely occupied for a long time (Level V). The reasons for this may have been rebellions and invasions by the Sea Peoples . Four mass graves were found at the site with over 1500 individuals interred, about half women and children. The tombs themselves dated to
6561-543: Was the Starkey-Tufnell British expedition which included James Leslie Starkey as expedition leader, Olga Tufnell , G.L. Harding and C. Inge. It was funded by Charles Marston and Henry Wellcome with the aim of finding the Biblical city of Lachish. They succeeded in finding Lachish, with a "wealth of well-stratified pottery", a "key part of the ceramic corpus of Palestine", and the Lachish letters , c. "written to
#199800