Israel’s most precious museum artwork and artifacts — including the Dead Sea Scrolls and paintings by artists from Mark Rothko to Gustav Klimt — have been moved to rocket-proof bunkers for protection.
The preservation tactic has not been used by Israel since the 1991 Gulf War, when Iraq fired missiles at the Jewish state.
“Even if there’s a very small possibility [of damage], we don’t play around — we don’t take chances,” said Doron Lurie, senior curator and chief conservator at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.
“We’ve guarded them like our own kids,” he said of the priceless works.
Hagit Maoz, curator of the Shrine of the Book at Jerusalem’s Israel Museum, said at least eight display cases there are empty after pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls were removed for safekeeping.
“To take off an exhibition is something that usually is not done because we trust the building, we trust the safety of the showcases. But this is a different situation, so we have to act accordingly,” Maoz said — as Israel’s war with Hamas terrorists continues to rage.
The Dead Seas Scrolls, first discovered in 1947 in the West Bank, are among the most precious historical and religious items held in Israel.
The Tel Aviv Museum also has stashed away works by famed modern artist Rothko, such as his “Number 24,” as well as the renowned “Portrait of Friederike Maria Beer,” a 1916 masterpiece painted by Klimt just two years before his death.
The museum is storing works by Georg Kolbe, Leonora Carrington and historic painters, too.
“These works of art have experienced war, some of them survived World War II,” said museum director Tania Coen-Uzzielli. “We are custodians for a short time, and we need to protect them, to protect them for posterity and for history.”
Nurith Goshen, curator of Chalcolithic and Bronze Age archaeology, said her museum also enacted the war protocol and created a list of what should go in its bunker, but noted that not everything can be saved if the worst were to happen.
“You really have to choose the finest or the most fragile artifacts,” she said.
With Post wires