The Hecht museum
Encyclopedia
The Reuben and Edith Hecht Museum is a museum located on the grounds of the University of Haifa
, Israel
.
, director of Dagon Silos and a founding member of the University of Haifa Board of Governors. For sixty years, Hecht collected archaeological artifacts representing the material culture
of the Land of Israel
in ancient times
. He was particularly interested in finds from the Canaanite
period to the end of the Byzantine period
. Hecht believed that archeology was an important expression of Zionism and these ancient artifacts were proof of the link between the Jewish people and Eretz Israel.
Exhibits display the archaeology and history of the Land of Israel in chronological sequence, from the Chalcolithic period to the Byzantine period. Exhibits include coins, weights, Semitic
seals, jewelry, artifacts from the Temple Mount
excavations; Phoenician metalworking, woodworking, stone vessels, glass making, and mosaics. The museum is also home to the Ma'agan Michael Ship
, the wreck of a fifth century BCE merchantman.
The museum art collection includes French painting of the Barbizon
School, Impressionism
, Post-impressionism
, and the School of Paris, and Jewish art from mid-nineteenth to early twentieth century. The museum also owns paintings by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Edouard Manet
, Claude Monet
, Camille Jacob Pissarro, Vincent van Gogh
, Amedeo Modigliani
, Max Liebermann
.
The museum has an acoustic auditorium that seats 380 and a pipe organ
, built from parts of organs used in churches throughout the country over a century ago. It also serves as a study center for students and academic researchers, offering enrichment studies in archaeology, art, Bible, and history for schoolchildren, soldiers, teachers and the public at large.
The Museum holds an annual art competition open to high-school students, soldiers, and fine arts students. Winners of the competition are granted scholarships by the Hecht Foundation, which also awards fellowships to M.A. and Ph.D. students in the Departments of Archeology and Maritime Civilizations
. The Museum holds conferences, symposia, seminars, and lectures and publishes catalogs of its exhibitions of archeology and art.
Michmanim, the museum journal, publishes scholarly articles on archaeological research and artifacts in the museum collection.
University of Haifa
The University of Haifa is a university in Haifa, Israel.The University of Haifa was founded in 1963 by Haifa mayor Abba Hushi, to operate under the academic auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
History
The Hecht Museum was established in 1984 by Reuben HechtReuben Hecht
Dr. Reuben R. Hecht was an Israeli industrialist, and founder of the Hecht Museum. Hecht was also a Zionist - revisionist , and winner of the Israel Prize for "TRIP" on contribution to society and county.-Biography:...
, director of Dagon Silos and a founding member of the University of Haifa Board of Governors. For sixty years, Hecht collected archaeological artifacts representing the material culture
Material culture
In the social sciences, material culture is a term that refers to the relationship between artifacts and social relations. Studying a culture's relationship to materiality is a lens through which social and cultural attitudes can be discussed...
of the Land of Israel
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...
in ancient times
Ancient Near East
The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia , ancient Egypt, ancient Iran The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia...
. He was particularly interested in finds from the Canaanite
Canaan
Canaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...
period to the end of the Byzantine period
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
. Hecht believed that archeology was an important expression of Zionism and these ancient artifacts were proof of the link between the Jewish people and Eretz Israel.
Exhibits display the archaeology and history of the Land of Israel in chronological sequence, from the Chalcolithic period to the Byzantine period. Exhibits include coins, weights, Semitic
Semitic
In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages...
seals, jewelry, artifacts from the Temple Mount
Temple Mount
The Temple Mount, known in Hebrew as , and in Arabic as the Haram Ash-Sharif , is one of the most important religious sites in the Old City of Jerusalem. It has been used as a religious site for thousands of years...
excavations; Phoenician metalworking, woodworking, stone vessels, glass making, and mosaics. The museum is also home to the Ma'agan Michael Ship
Ma'agan Michael Ship
The Ma'agan Michael Ship is a well-preserved 5th-century BCE boat discovered off the coast of Kibbutz Ma'agan Michael, Israel, in 1985. The ship was excavated and its timber immersed in preservation tanks at the University of Haifa, undergoing a seven-year process of impregnation by heated...
, the wreck of a fifth century BCE merchantman.
The museum art collection includes French painting of the Barbizon
Barbizon
Barbizon is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in north-central France. It is located near the Fontainebleau Forest.-Art history:The Barbizon school of painters is named after the village; Théodore Rousseau and Jean-François Millet, leaders of the school, made their homes and died in the...
School, Impressionism
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
, Post-impressionism
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to describe the development of French art since Manet. Fry used the term when he organized the 1910 exhibition Manet and Post-Impressionism...
, and the School of Paris, and Jewish art from mid-nineteenth to early twentieth century. The museum also owns paintings by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Edouard Manet
Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet was a French painter. One of the first 19th-century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism....
, Claude Monet
Claude Monet
Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...
, Camille Jacob Pissarro, Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...
, Amedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. Primarily a figurative artist, he became known for paintings and sculptures in a modern style characterized by mask-like faces and elongation of form...
, Max Liebermann
Max Liebermann
Max Liebermann was a German-Jewish painter and printmaker best known for his etching and lithography.-Biography:...
.
The museum has an acoustic auditorium that seats 380 and a pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
, built from parts of organs used in churches throughout the country over a century ago. It also serves as a study center for students and academic researchers, offering enrichment studies in archaeology, art, Bible, and history for schoolchildren, soldiers, teachers and the public at large.
The Museum holds an annual art competition open to high-school students, soldiers, and fine arts students. Winners of the competition are granted scholarships by the Hecht Foundation, which also awards fellowships to M.A. and Ph.D. students in the Departments of Archeology and Maritime Civilizations
Maritime archaeology
Maritime archaeology is a discipline within archaeology as a whole that specifically studies human interaction with the sea, lakes and rivers through the study of associated physical remains, be they vessels, shore side facilities, port-related structures, cargoes, human remains and submerged...
. The Museum holds conferences, symposia, seminars, and lectures and publishes catalogs of its exhibitions of archeology and art.
Michmanim, the museum journal, publishes scholarly articles on archaeological research and artifacts in the museum collection.
External links
- The Hecht Museum
- University of Haifa
- Hecht Museum at ilMuseums.com