Background Prior to the establishment of the Museum, the
British Mandate's
Department of Antiquities and British School of Archaeology were housed in an old building in Jerusalem with a small exhibition hall. The only other archaeological museum in Jerusalem at the time was the Franciscan Biblical Museum, built in 1902. Before the
First World War, there had been an Ottoman Imperial Museum of Antiquities in Jerusalem (
Müze-i Hümayun; 1901–1917), later known as the Palestine Archaeological Museum. In 1919, British town planner
Patrick Geddes proposed the establishment of an antiquities museum in Jerusalem. To further the project, the Mandate authorities proposed a special tourism tax in 1924. The museum features a stone
bas-relief of the meeting of
Asia and
Africa above the main entrance together with ten stone reliefs illustrating different cultures and a
gargoyle fountain in the inner courtyard carved in 1934 by the British sculptor
Eric Gill (1882–1940). Gill also produced stone carved
signage throughout the museum in
English,
Hebrew, and
Arabic; the Hebrew lettering was inspired by fonts from recently discovered
Second Temple-era artifacts, most prominently the
Uzziah tablet, but also
ossuaries from the period. The Palestine Archaeological Museum opened to the public on January 13, 1938. Until the final days of the Mandate period, the museum was administered by the British Palestine Government. On 1 April 1948, it was closed to the public.
Jordanian period (1948–1967) On 20 April 1948, the High Commissioner appointed a council of international trustees to administer the museum. The council consisted of twelve members: two representing the High Commissioner, one from the British Academy, one from the British Museum, one from the French National Academy, one from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, two from the Antiquities Departments of the Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese, Iraqi or Transjordanian governments; one from the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, one from the Royal Swedish Academy, one from the American Institute of Archaeology, and one from the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem. After the
1948 Arab–Israeli War, the museum also became a secondary headquarters of the Jordanian Department of Antiquities, headed by
Gerald Lankester Harding until 1956. In 1966, the museum was nationalized by
King Hussein during the
Jordanian annexation of the West Bank. The Museum's most prized collection, the ancient
Dead Sea Scrolls, were moved by Israel from the Museum to the
Israel Museum, in
West Jerusalem, with the ownership of the scrolls having been heavily contested ever since. Part of the scrolls, including the
Copper Scroll, had been taken to the
Jordan Museum in Amman. Since 1967, the museum has been jointly managed by the Israel Museum and the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums (later reorganized as the
Israel Antiquities Authority). ==Collections==