Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, the World’s Oldest Museum

This blog has already featured several extraordinary museums from around the world.  Melly Lifshitz takes his love for travel and art seriously that he became a museum enthusiast that shares his passion not only with his friends but also here online. 

The previous entries of this blog featured the world’s most famous museums – those ones which are often visited by tourists.  But, while reading the title of this post, you should have known by now what is the name of the world’s oldest heritage center. 

The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology in Oxford is hailed by The Guinness   Book of Records as the oldest museum in the World opened to the public. It opened its doors to the public in 1683. It is also the world’s first university museum.

Below is an excerpt of the museum’s history.

“The collection began modestly in the 1620s with a handful of portraits and curiosities displayed in a small room on the upper floor. In 1636 and 1657, Archbishop Laud and Ralph Freke added notable collections of coins and medals, later installed in a strong room of their own and now incorporated into the Ashmolean coin collection. The objects of curiosity included Guy Fawkes’ lantern and a sword said to have been given by the pope to Henry VIII, both now in the Ashmolean, as well as a number of more exotic items, including Jacob’s Coat of Many Colours, long since lost. However, as there was a museum for curiosities of this kind in the University Anatomy Theatre, objects like this tended to go there or to the Ashmolean, after it opened in 1683, leaving the Bodleian gallery to develop as a museum of art.”

Read more about  the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology here. If you think this is not the oldest, kindly leave a comment below.  Photo Credit 

Melly Lifshitz Lists Top 3 Museums in the USA

The Louvre Museum, the State Hermitage, and the Tokyo National Museum are the world's top 3 museums mentioned in the previous entry of this blog.  Melly Lifshitz as a museum enthusiast keeps his own list of the various heritage centers he visits during his countless travels.   Here in the USA, he has his own top 3 list.  Continue browsing below.

Museum of Contemporary Art – The Museum of Contemporary Art is considered as one of USA’s biggest heritage centers devoted in exhibiting the art of our time.   It features exhibitions of the most thought-provoking art created since 1945.  MCA aims to become an innovative and compelling center of contemporary art where the public can directly experience the work and ideas of living artists, and understand the historical, social, and cultural context of the art of our time.  

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Below is an excerpt of its history.

“In October of 1967, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) opens its doors to the public in a newly renovated one-story building at 237 East Ontario Street that had been built as a bakery and for a time had served as the corporate offices of Playboy Enterprises. The MCA is founded with Jan van der Marck as the first director. The premiere exhibitions are Pictures To Be Read/Poetry To Be Seen and Claes Oldenburg: Projects for Monuments. The MCA also presents Dan Flavin: Pink and Gold, the artist’s first solo museum exhibition. The board of trustees elects Joseph Randall Shapiro as its first president.” 

MoMA,Museum of Modern Art – The Museum of Modern Art’s main mission is to help people understand and enjoy the art of our time.  This museum was founded as an educational institution in 1929.  It also aims to become leading museum of modern art in the world.

Photo Credit

Here’s an excerpt of its history.

“The rich and varied collection of The Museum of Modern Art constitutes one of the most comprehensive and panoramic views into modern art. From an initial gift of eight prints and one drawing, The Museum of Modern Art's collection has grown to include over 150,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, architectural models and drawings, and design objects. MoMA also owns approximately 22,000 films and four million film stills, and MoMA's Library and Archives, the premier research facilities of their kind in the world, hold over 300,000 books, artist books, and periodicals, and extensive individual files on more than 70,000 artists.”

Shrine to Music Museum – Shrine to Music Museum or the National Music Museum is considered as the only place in the world where you can find two 18th-century grand pianos with the specific type of action conceived by the piano's inventor, Bartolomeo Cristofori.  It is housed in 20, 000 square-foot, climate-controlled building, where 1,100 representative instruments are exhibited in nine beautiful galleries.  

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Read its history’s excerpt below.

“Founded in 1973 on the campus of The University of South Dakota in Vermillion, the National Music Museum (NMM) & Center for Study of the History of Musical Instruments is one of the great institutions of its kind in the world. Its renowned collections, which include more than 15,000 American, European, and non-Western instruments from virtually all cultures and historical periods, are the most inclusive anywhere.”

Other top museums in the country that Mel Lifshitz also appreciates are the ZEUM, Illinois State Museum, St. Louis Art Museum, and Museo De Las Americas.

Melly Lifshitz’s Top 5 Museum Blogs

Mel Lifshitz’s Museum Adventures wants to recognize other bloggers who are also featuring various topics that focus more on local and international museums.  Get ready to be acquainted with  the World Wide Web’s top museum blogs.  Below is this blog’s top picks. 

Nasher Museum Blogs 

A blog from the Nasher Museum of Art.  It features museum artists, exhibitions, and news and events about the latest updates about the museum industry in different parts of the world. 

Latest Blog Post: Record Inspiration

National Media Museum Blog

The official blog of National Media Museum, a UK-based museum which has seven fantastic floors of exhibitions and interactive galleries dedicated to photography, film, TV and new media.  Most of the entries are written by the museum’s staff.

Latest Blog Post: Filming Daniel Meadows

Museum 2.0

A blog that explores ways that web 2.0 philosophies can be applied in museum design.  It is authored and maintained by Nina Simon, Executive Director of The Museum of Art & History in Santa Cruz. 

Latest Blog Post: Fundraising as ParticipatoryPractice: Myths, Realities, Possibilities 

New Curator

A museum blog that features topics, issues, and news surrounding museums and politics, technology, internationalism, individualism, expansionism, presentism and architecture.

Latest Blog Post: Hire me?

Museum People

A group blog composed of people, who work in museums, studies related topics, or those ones who consider themselves as museum geeks.

Latest Blog Post: Ronald Dahl Museum

Other museum blogs that Melly Lifshitz recommends include The Attic, TheMuseum Detective, and the Museum Planner.

Mel Lifshitz’s Top 3 Museums From Around the World

If you’ve noticed, the topic of the previous entries on this blog were centered mainly around Israel museums.  For a change, this entry will feature museums from different countries around the world where Mel Lifshitz have been to.

For Melly Lifshitz, museum exploration should always be in every traveler’s itinerary.  You’ll be missing a lot about the history and culture of the place if you crash-out your museum visit from your list.  Below is the list of his top 3 museums from around the world.

Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre) in Paris – Who hasn't heard about Paris’ Louvre Museum?  It houses the world’s most famous piece of art – Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.  It is tagged as the world’s most famous museum and also one of the largest.   Louvre Museum is the main landmark of Paris with more or less 35,000 objects (from prehistory to the 19^th century).  These pieces are displayed over an area of 60,600 square meters.  Museum collections include Egyptian, Near Eastern, Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities.  There are also Islamic art, and various sculpture, decorative, painting, and prints and drawings from diverse ethnicities. 

The State Hermitage (Государственный Эрмитаж) in Russia – The Hermitage Museum is hailed by the Guinness World Record as the museum having the world’s largest painting collection.  It is also one of the largest and oldest museums in the world.  Catherine the Great founded it in 1764.  It displays nearly 3 million items, including the largest collection of paintings in the world.  Other museum collections include Egyptian antiquities, Classical antiquities, Prehistoric art, Jewellery and decorative art, Italian Renaissance, Italian and Spanish fine art, Knight's Hall, Dutch Golden Age and Flemish Baroque, German and French fine art, Russian art, Neoclassical, Impressionist, and post-Impressionist art. Photo Credit.

Tokyo National Museum (Tōkyō Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan) in Japan – Tokyo is one of Mel Lifshitz favorite cities abroad.  The Tokyo National Museum is one of the city’s main attractions.  It houses over 110,000 objects including the 87 Japanese Natural Treasure holdings and 610 Important Cultural Property holdings.  Aside from the exhibit, the museum also organizes research and educational activities related to its collection.  Its collections focus mainly on Ancient Japanese art, Asian art, and Greco-Buddhist art. Photo Credit.

Mel Lifshitz encourages those who travel to France to check out The Louvre Museum, those who go bumming in Russia to take a quick look at The State Hermitage, and those tourists who frequent in Tokyo city to visit the Tokyo National Museum.

More museum features to come here in Mel Lifshitz’ Museum Adventures blog.  Stay tuned and don’t forget to bookmark this website.

Reason Why Melly Lifshitz Loves Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem

As mentioned in the previous post, Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem is one of the heritage centers in Jerusalem that Melly Lifshitz often visits.  He and his family love to explore the whole vicinity of the center and check various activities for entertain tourists and local visitors.

Aside from various exhibits (exquisite artifacts from the  dawn of civilization to the early Byzantine era in the ancient Near East) that show the fascinating journey through the lands of the Bible, one of the reasons why Melly, along with his wife and kids, often hang out in the heritage center is because there are lots of family-oriented activities in there that are  loved by the kids.

Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem features Holiday Family Fun, a guided tour which feature various creative workshops, performance,  and other surprises during the interim days of Succoth, Chanukah, the interim days of Passover,  and summer vacation.  Mel Lifshitz recommends this program to other families who want to make their museum travels unique from everyone else.

Parents and kids can make use of the museum together during Museum Holiday Day Camps, Birthdays, and Bat Mitzvah Program.  The Museum Holiday Day Camps  are often held during Passover and summer vacation.  Attendees are encourage to participate in various creative activities filled with innovative educational programs and games.

If you are planning to give a different birthday party to your kids, the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem offers original ideas for a birthday celebration.  They offer special experience that includes an active tour of the museum’s galleries as well as creative workshops. 

And, for those families who celebrate Bar/Bat-mitzvahs, they can experience a unique program held inside the museum that combines the subject matter of the Weekly Portion and the Haftorah with the relevant museum displays.  Melly Lifshitz advices everyone to visit the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem website to check more interesting programs and activities.

Menachem Lifshitz Loves the Tower of David Museum's Concerts

Aside from the famous Chihuly  exhibition (which made the Tower of David Museum well known), Menachem Lifshitz  became an avid visitor of the heritage center  because of the series of concerts which are often held at the museum’s Citadel.  Melly is looking forward to attend in one of the following concerts.

Tu B'Av at the Tower of David: Celebration of Israeli Love with Einat Sarouf, will be held on August 14.  This is in celebration of Israel’s Valentine’s Day.   Everyone is invited to attend and is encouraged dress in white.   Concert goers will be greeted by the most beautiful songs written in Hebrew, the happiest of melodies, the most romantic of ballads, all in the most beautiful setting in the world.  Menachem Lifshitz would love to watch the performance of Einat Sarouf, the queen of Hebrew singers  who will surely entertain the audience with her ability to find special intimate moments in every performance.  Ticket details: Price: 80 NIS adult. Senior citizens / students: 65 NIS | Special price for "Zman Tarbut" club members and "Yerushalmi" card holders: 120 NIS per couple (upon presentation of membeship card).

After the special Valentine’s Day concert, another music event is scheduled on September 2, initially dubbed as “Music for students and young people”.  This is a series of multiple concerts marking the beginning of the Academic year.   

Another two big concerts that Menachem Lifshitz is looking forward to attend to, are the Festive Cantorial Concert - Tribute to the cantor Moshe Gentshof (September 13) and Hallelujah - Liturgical music in concert at the Citadel followed by guided tour of the Old City just before Christmas (December 23).  Visit this link for more details.

The Tower of David Museum in Israel was built over two decades  ago by the Jerusalem Foundation with the help of the Clore Foundation of the UK.   It  is located inside the Jaffa Gate, parking is available nearby. Bus lines from Jerusalem's central bus station include, 1, 6, 13A and 20.

Mel Lifshitz’s Museum Affair

The love of traveling and discovering new places leads Melly Lifshitz to stumble upon better discoveries in life.  One of these discoveries is his fondness of museums.  Aside from checking the finest golf courses every time he goes abroad, he now visits cultural museums and heritage centers every time he  travels to a new destination.  Missing a museum trip during travel means missing a great deal of knowledge tripping about the place’s history, culture, and people.

For Mel Lifshitz, a museum is like a miniature of the past that reflects the soul and uniqueness of a country’s culture and tradition.  Below are the two museums that this blog will feature in the next days to come.

• The Tower of David Museum - A place rich in history. For centuries it guarded the Western entrance to Jerusalem. It was built at this specific location because it was considered the weak link in the city's defense.

• Jerusalem’s Bible Lands Museum - The museum's artifacts represent many different periods in ancient Israel such as the Hellenistic period and the immersion of Christianity. The Assyrian, Babylonian, and Egyptian empires are also depicted within the museum's vast collection. The museum also displays the traditions of other peoples mentioned in the Bible such as the Philistines, Arameans, Hittites, Elamites, Phoenicians, and the Persians.

The Tower of David Museum and Jerusalem’s Bible Lands Museum are both located in Israel where Mel Lifshitz and family often visit.  These two are if not the best, the most distinctive heritage centers in the country that promote the bravery and beauty of the Israeli culture and lifestyle.

Another museum in Israel that’s already been featured on this blog is the Eretz Israel Museum and its Ceramic Pavillion.  It displays selected artifacts from Tel Qasile and an archaeological site, where you can enter and explore a rebuilt typical house from the pre-Israelite Canaanite period.