Permanent Collection




The Museum's first curator, John H. Iliffe, established the museum's permanent display, which presents objects from the Stone Age (some two million years ago) until around 1700 CE in chronological order. Other pieces are exhibited in galleries devoted to specific topics, such as the 8th-century wooden panels from the al-Aqsa Mosque and the 12th-century (Crusader-period) marble lintels from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher The collection is based on finds unearthed during the early years of archaeological activity in the country (1890-1948), when key sites, among them Jerusalem, Megiddo, Beth Sehean Ashkelon, Lachish, Samaria, and Jericho, were excavated. The wealth of finds is indeed astonishing, and includes some of the most important artifacts uncovered in this land to date. The British preferred to keep the museum free of labels and accompanied the permanent display with gallery books. In the past few years, however, special efforts have been made to incorporate updated explanations in the galleries. So far, seven parts of the museum have been provided with new wall texts: the courtyard, the Beth Shean Gallery, the Synagogue Gallery, and the Prehistoric, Chalcolithic, Early Bronze and Middle Bronze sections. We anticipate that this process will take another two or three years.