I was at the Israel Museum a few days ago and construction is moving ahead on the installation of the “Holyland Hotel” model of Jerusalem. It looked like there were 30-50 workers on site and most of the model seems to be in place. Construction continues on the walkway around the model, which is elevated and affords a better view than the previous location. The museum says that the model will be open in May and I think they won’t be far behind that estimate.
You might want to skip the museum itself, if you’re interested in finds related to the New Testament. That section is greatly lacking with many of the finds now in Cleveland (pdf file) for a special exhibit. Among the missing are the Temple Scroll, the ossuary of Caiaphas, the trumpeting stone, the Temple inscription forbidding entry to Gentiles and the Pilate inscription. Too bad they can’t put the James Ossuary (forgery or not) on display in one of the empty cases.
Plans are afoot to dramatically change the museum’s layout. $50 million will move the main entrance to the display wings and create an enclosed route of passage to it. I admit that I’ve always been baffled by the two “entrances” to the museum, at either end of the campus (both with security guards to check your bags).
One thought on “Israel Museum update”
Todd:
I was at the Maltz Museum in Cleveland on Monday. Very well done. And, you can get up close and personal to all those great artifacts.
I highly recommend to your readers to visit the Cleveland display if they are in the neighborhood. Just getting next to this stuff is exciting; and, oh by the way, the rest of the museum is excellent, too.
D Hansen