Ode on a Grecian urn
By NECHAMA VEEDER

The Jerusalem Post
Mar. 12, 2005 17:52 | Updated Mar. 12, 2005 22:00

There’s always been a problem of lack of visitors,” says Fawzi Ibrahim,
curator of the Rockefeller Museum. But the dearth in museum guests
has never been more pronounced than in the past four years of violence.

There are always a few guests in the museum, perhaps up to 20,
Ibrahim says, and things did pick up during the summer season and last
Christmas. But the visitors, who might include archeology students,
the occasional east Jerusalem resident or even a stray tourist,
never come in droves.

On a recent weekday, there were almost no signs of human life
throughout the vast halls, except for a stray security guard and a
visitor to the Antiquities Authority, housed in the same complex,
seeking Ibrahim’s help on his research project.

Although it is a fairly mild winter’s day, the lack of heating spreads
a chill through the 1930s-era, high walled structure. The museum is one
of Jerusalem’s oldest. When the British built the structure during the
Mandate era, they didn’t feel that the Jerusalem winters justified
central heating. Now, says Ibrahim, for the number of visitors,
“it isn’t worth it.”

On weekdays, guests must either travel to the museum by public
transportation or park in one of the nearby parking lots. The
Antiquities Authority parking, next to the museum, can be used on
Saturdays.

The parking problem, Ibrahim adds, “is another reason people don’t
come.”

But when it comes to the museum’s contents, Ibrahim becomes more
animated.

“There is the display from the Mandate era,” he lectures, now in his
element. “The policy is to leave the exhibits as they are. It is an
experience for those who are used to modern museums.”

Now run by the Israel Museum, the Rockefeller Archeological Museum
was opened in 1938. It houses antiquities unearthed in excavations
conducted in the country mainly during the time of the British Mandate
(1919-1948).

In 1925, after James Henry Breasted, founder and director of the
University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute, visited Palestine, he
approached American philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. for a
donation to build an archeological museum. Rockefeller agreed to
contribute $2 million.

The site chosen for the museum was known as Karm e-Sheikh, just
outside the Old City walls, and the cornerstone was laid in 1930.

Architect Austen St. Barbe Harrison, who designed the museum, combined
Western and Eastern elements.

The concept of integrating several wings in a single structure is
a nod to Western tradition. The exhibition halls, with high windows
that let in natural light, were designed to resemble a cathedral. The
library is reminiscent of medieval architecture.

>>From the Eastern and local building traditions, Harrison adopted
the use of stone carving and openwork techniques, the shapes of the
entrances, domed and vaulted ceilings, Armenian tiles and woodwork.

The tiles, as well as the meeting room’s ceiling, were designed by
Armenian tiler David Ohanessian, one of the region’s pioneer craftsmen.

The museum’s permanent exhibition, established by the first curator,
John H. Iliffe, displays artifacts in chronological order form the
Stone Age (about two million years ago) until 1700 CE.

Ibrahim also coordinates temporary exhibitions, such as the exhibition
of Image and Artifact and a display on the museum’s history, which
he says may now become a permanent feature.

Originally, the museum’s official name was The Palestine Archeological
Museum, but it has always been commonly known as the Rockefeller
Museum.