Mishkan Art Museum in Ein Harod Restores Its Original Architecture After Decades

Yefim Ladizhinsky

After several decades, the Mishkan Art Museum in Ein Harod, in northern Israel, is unveiling once again elements of the original architecture of its first building, inaugurated in 1948. The reopening will coincide with an exhibition exploring signs and representations of Jewish identity.

On September 4, the museum will officially unveil the renovation of its first wing, considered one of the earliest permanent museum spaces dedicated to art in Israel. The project seeks to restore the architectural spirit envisioned by Samuel Bickel, bringing back elements that had been covered, altered or removed over the decades.

Exploring the signs of Jewish identity

The exhibition, “Al Panav, Yehudi” (“On His Face, a Jew”), curated by Deborah Liss, brings together Judaica objects and symbols while exploring the complex question of how Jewish identity is defined.

On the body, inside the home or in public spaces, certain objects and signs can identify a person as Jewish. A kippah, tefillin, a scarf, ritual objects and artistic representations can all become markers of belonging.

The exhibition places symbols rooted in Jewish tradition alongside other signs historically associated with the identification of Jews by the societies around them. Among them is the tattooed number found on the arms of Holocaust survivors.

The exhibition therefore raises questions that go far beyond religious practice: Is an outward sign necessary to define oneself as Jewish? And who decides what makes it possible to identify someone as Jewish?

Naftali Bezem

The history of the Mishkan Museum began long before the establishment of the State of Israel.

On January 7, 1938, artist Haim Atar, a member of Kibbutz Ein Harod and one of the museum's founders, transformed a small wooden shack that served as his studio into a space dedicated to art.

Ten years later, the museum's first permanent building was inaugurated. It was designed by Samuel Bickel, an architect whose modernist vision placed particular emphasis on light, proportions and the movement of visitors through the space.

The museum continued to expand gradually in the following years. By 1957, most of the exhibition halls, the column hall, the sculpture courtyard and the northern galleries had been completed. The museum entrance was then moved to the western façade, where it remains today.

The building thus bears the marks of decades of architectural transformations, as well as the complex history of the kibbutz itself.

Restoring the original architecture

The current renovation was carried out by conservation architect Rafael Cohen, in collaboration with Reut Earon. One of the project's main objectives was to recover elements of Bickel's original architectural design.

Samson Lemberger

The historic entrance on the southern façade, facing Mount Gilboa, has been reopened. Staircases that had been covered for decades have also been uncovered, revealing an axis connecting the southern façade with the upper galleries to the north.

New display cases have been installed, while some extensions added over the years have been removed.

For Orit Lev-Segev, director general of the Mishkan, the renovation has been a particularly complex architectural, heritage and financial project. She believes it now allows the museum to reconnect with the building's original architecture while creating a renewed setting for its collections.

The opening ceremony will take place on September 4, shortly after 18 Elul (August 31), the date on which Kibbutz Ein Harod marked its 105th anniversary.

Through the restoration of its architecture and an exhibition devoted to Jewish identity, the Mishkan Art Museum brings together two forms of memory: that of a building gradually recovering its original character, and that of an identity that continues to evolve and redefine itself from one generation to the next.

Caroline Haiat