Page 36 - Studio International - August 1965

Another view of the Shrine of
the Book

of Architecture at Haifa and among his best local Bartos, were commissioned, and appear to have been
buildings is the Loci Airport. Mrs. Gad was trained in influenced by the melodramatic title given to the build­
Vienna and is currently responsible for the interior of ing. Their romantic conception strikes a discordant,
the new Parliament and the Hilton Hotel at Tel Aviv. theatrical note on this austere hillside, beside the simple
For the Israel Museum they have created a complex of practicality of the main group. The onion-dome,
small linked pavilions, asymmetrically placed in relation covered in gleaming white porcelain tiles, is too
to each other. The exterior pattern is unpretentious and obviously an oriental quotation, and placed next to a
light, and internally they have avoided large, pompous massive black basalt wall its prettiness seems all the
spaces. The exhibition areas are relatively small and more shallow. This is exhibition architecture, suitable
flexible, admirably suited to the narrow range of the for a World's Fair or an art pavilion. Melodrama is even
Museum's possessions, making for intimate, easily more emphasised inside; a deep vaulted basement,
comprehended displays. A belt of high windows pro­ reached through Art Nouveau arches, leads to a
vides natural light without restricting wall space. spiralled vault, no doubt intended to suggest the
The Museum is divided into two distinct sections; the Oumran caves. Portions of parchment are displayed in
Bezalel Museum of Fine Arts in the southern area, and fashionable show-cases, with the most important
the Bronfman Museum of Archaeology in the northern exhibit, the Book of Isaiah, in a central drum incon­
part. Both extend on what is virtually a single storey, gruously mounted by a huge phallic column. For manyof
although due to the topography of the site there are the visitors this building will be a focal attraction, and
interesting changes of level. The museums share those interested in the discovery of the scrolls in 1947
common services on a lower level-offices, laboratories, and their subsequent history, are provided with an
store-rooms, archives. Public amenities include an intelligible guide.
extensive library, book stalls, restaurants, etc. Between the Shrine of the Book and the main
Quite distinct from this central complex, and indeed Museum lies lsamu Noguchi's garden. Originally
stylistically at variance with it, is the domed Shrine of termed the Billy Rose Sculpture Garden, it is now
the Book which houses the famous Dead Sea Scrolls. called an Art Garden to satisfy orthodox religious
It is a pity that the Gottesman Foundation of New York, opinion which objects to idols being publicly dis­
which donated the building, did not allow it to be part played in the Holy City. One of the results is that the
of an overall plan by the Israeli architects. Instead more naturalistic nude figures tend to be hidden behind
American designers, Frederick Kiesler and Armand solid walls. Noguchi, a distinguished sculptor who has
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