Books in Brief

Small Treasure

The Museums of Israel

Nitza Rosovsky and Joy Ungerleider-Mayerson, with photographs by David Harris (New York: Abrams, 1989) 256 pp, plus 170 photos and 9 maps, $14.95 paperback

What a wonderful idea to write a book on Israel’s museums! I imagine that per square mile Israel has more museums than any other country, and the variety probably exceeds that anywhere else. I would guess that the architecture—especially, but not exclusively—of Israel’s major museums and their exhibition techniques rank very high among museums of the world. And what indefatigable authors, to have visited every one of the 120 museums described herein.

Of special interest to BAR readers are the 49 museums displaying archaeological collections. This number may seem high, but not in a country where amateur archaeologists are everywhere, and particularly in kibbutzim. It’s not surprising that a large proportion of the archaeological collections are in kibbutz museums.

These collections in Israel vary tremendously, from the great holdings of the Israel Museum and the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem, the Museum Ha’aretz in Tel Aviv and the Haifa Museum and National Maritime Museum in Haifa, to the small, but meaningful, kibbutz collections.