The Israeli museum’s most valuable artworks and artifacts — including the Dead Sea Scrolls and paintings by artists from Mark Rothko to Gustav Klimt — have been moved to a rocket-proof bunker for protection.
The preservation tactic has not been used by Israel since the 1991 Gulf War, when Iraq fired missiles at the Jewish state.
“Although there is a very small possibility [of damage]we don’t play around — we don’t take chances,” said Doron Lurie, senior curator and chief conservator at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.
“We have taken care of them like our own children,” he said of the priceless works.
Hagit Maoz, curator of the Shrine of the Book at Jerusalem’s Israel Museum, said at least eight display cases were empty after pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls were removed for storage.
“To launch an exhibition is something that is not usually done because we believe in the building, we believe in the safety of the exhibition. But this is a different situation, so we have to act accordingly,” Maoz said — as Israel’s war with Hamas terrorists continues to rage.
The Tel Aviv Museum of Art has kept the famous “Portrait of Friederike Maria Beer”, by Austrian painter Gustav Klimt, in the fort.REUTERS The museum also houses Mark Rothko’s “Number 24 (Untitled)”.REUTERS
The Dead Sea Scrolls, first discovered in 1947 in the West Bank, are among the most valuable historical and religious items held in Israel.
The Tel Aviv Museum has also hidden works by famous modern artist Rothko, such as his “Number 24”, as well as the famous “Portrait of Friederike Maria Beer”, a 1916 masterpiece painted by Klimt just two years before his death.
The museum houses the works of Georg Kolbe, Leonora Carrington and historical painters as well.
Tel Aviv Museum closes Georg Kolbe’s “Squatting Woman” to protect it from damage.REUTERS
“These works of art have experienced war, some of them survived World War II,” said museum director Tania Coen-Uzzielli. “We are custodians for a short time, and we need to protect them, to protect them for posterity and history.”
Nurith Goshen, curator of Chalcolithic and Bronze Age archaeology, said his museum had also drawn up war protocols and created a list of things to put in its forts, but noted that not everything could be saved if the worst happened.
“You really have to choose the best or most fragile artifacts,” he said.
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
