MUSEUMS OF ISRAEL: FROM PROVIDING ACCESS TO PRIVATE COLLECTIONS TO CRAFTING THE NATIONAL IDENTITY

Abstract

At first glance, it seems the history of the museums in Israel is just around 75 years old, if to count from the date of the state establishment in 1948, but in fact, it is a almost 150 years old, if we consider the date of the first museums appearance and the start the Zionist project, proclaimed by Theodor Herzl in 1897.

After the First World War from 1918-1948 Palestine got under British rule. Together with the British Mandate, its colonial past and attitude, the modern British concepts and technologies were launched in urbanism and master-plans of new cities, approach in education and culture. Also they greatly influenced the legislation and institutional development of the heritage sector of the future state.

The history of these 30 years has been described and analyzed in the works of many international and Israeli researchers, but the articles and books, written by Raz Kletter, Shimon Gibson and Galia Bar Or, are stand out.

However, in the context of presenting extensive material on the history of museums, there is still room for adjustments and additions from the point of view of current cultural policies and international trends, including recent political and ethical issues. In the article, the author examines three key stages in the development of museums in Israel.

Research and publications, documents from archives of the Israel Antiquities Authority, the archives of the Institute of Archeology of the Hebrew University, the archives of the National Library of Israel. Here we use the classic methods of historical and critical analysis, as well as content analysis of archival documents. A retrospective approach, from the point of view of Israel's current cultural policy and world museum trends, allows us to draw conclusions regarding several existing strategies.