Museum Review: The Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Renewed

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Ed Rothenstein

Israel Museum Sarcophagi from the 14th century B.C. are part
of the focus on archaeology in this revamped institution in Jerusalem.

ISRAEL---The world’s great national museums are not modest places. Whether imperial in origin (as in Vienna) or popular in intention (in London), whether aristocratic in tone (in St. Petersburg) or eagerly embracing multitudes (our own Smithsonians), they reflect the vision of the countries that created them. In galleries we can discern how a nation thinks about itself and its place in the world by seeing what it values and how it tells its stories. The Israel Museum adds another kind of intricacy to this reflection, because it is, like its nation, so young, and because the story it tells, also like that of its nation, is so old. [link]