It was passed lunch time when we reached this museum, it is located along the street of Weizman, approximately 200 meters away from the Citadel. Taking that long walk under the scorching sun with an empty stomach and a blistery foot is not an easy task, we didn't pause to eat in the nearby restaurants because we were kinda time-deficient. Good thing, me and sis were once members of the Girl Scouts and what we learned from the group, we applied to real life, we came prepared, we had all sorts of finger foods in our bags *grins*.
Pictures on this blog post were all taken using a Nokia N76, apparently, humans are not the only ones affected by exhaustion, my camera batteries got power-drained, fortunately, I met a kind lady who let me re-charge my batteries in the museum's reception area - thank you Sisi, you're a life-saver!
The Ethnography Center of Acre and the Galilee is one of the best museum, personally speaking, of course, not just because of the interesting artifacts and collections but, predominantly, because of the wonderful people and staff, all of them welcome visitors with open arms and big smiles, and they are all willing to lend a helping hand or a fraction of their time. I'll let you in a little secret, they are, somewhat, lenient on their house rules unlike the other museums where breathing, walking and open eyes are the only actions allowed *wink*.
The Ethnical Center is a labor of love of avid collectors and historians throughout Israel and neighboring countries, and a product of unrelenting effort and goodwill of many private individuals. It is divided into two sections, the first one is dedicated to recreating a 19th century market place like that of Galilee while the other half is an exhibition center of private collectors whose willing to share their collections to the public.
Mr. Dan Hortman and Mr. Michael Luria are two of the dedicated collectors of Galilean material culture, their personal collections are on display which they voluntarily lend, to prompt the founding of the Ethnographic Center. The center's main agenda is to illustrate, promote and preserve the way of life of the olden days, encompassed in an era at the end of Ottoman period up to the establishment of the State of Israel.
Wanna hear an entertaining story? I met a man in the museum while I was looking at the diagram of name plates in the wall, out of curiosity, I asked him who are those people and why are there listed there. He explained to me that the two main names on top of the wall are the two collectors who initialized the foundation of the center through their collections - Dan and Michael and the rest are private individuals who contributed to the center one way or the other. And then, he reached out his hand and told me " I'm Dan the collector", it was such a shock but a happy and delightful one at that, and of course, that's one heck of a photo opportunity and so we took it *lol*.
Below are the amazing people that I met - Dan Hortman, the good-hearted collector; Shimon Mandler, he's in-charge of the construction and maintenance; and Sisi, the beautiful Head of Marketing. And our photo op with Mr. Dan, that's sis and me, can you guess who's who?
The first picture was a shot of old books collected through time and carefully preserved, while the second shows the architectural attributes of the center, this is one of the hallways.
Michal Mizrahi, an artist and designer, created the market place presentation using antique gates from Michael Luria's collection and authentic periodic doors from Dan Hortman's collection.
First photo below is a re-creation of a hat maker's shop with authentic work equipments, the one in the corner is a showcase of horse-riding paraphernalia like saddles, straps, surcingle and stirrups. Next is a wood worker or carpenter's booth complete with antique tools, on the side you can spot gears and equipments used in farming, such as gandasa, scythe, sickle and plough.
A collection of metal stoves and ovens, pitchers and jars, lamps, bells, etc. are on display as shown in the first photo; the next one are collections of ethnic clothes and robes, traditional sewing machines, trinkets and kits used in basting.
Both the cabinet and the intricately-designed plates are on display as seen on the first photo. The second one was the collection of Dan Misch (1915-2006) it was said that his great pleasure in life was visiting flea markets in Israel and abroad, part of the exhibition under his name are men's and women's jewelries, horse and camel ornaments that were made in Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere in the world; while the other one is a collection of holy folklore, Judaica and a lot of Hanukkah lamps, given by Vicky Ben-Zioni (1946-2003).
Photos below are assortments of Ottoman bank notes and money released and used from 1840 to 1918, and a collection of matchboxes and packaging designs of various products in the past historical years of Akko.
An original Damascene living room highlighted by the convoluted designs of the sofa set and lounge chairs; plus the sight of a samovar (a hot water vessel for tea) bearing a personal inscription of the Sultan Ahmad Al-Jazzar, himself.
In the inner terrace, you can find a beautiful garden which boasts of a small olive tree in the center accentuated by a perfectly-manicured lawn and 3 uniquely-designed benches. An old-fashioned canon can, also, be found here.
I recommend a visit to Ethnography Center of Acre and the Galilee, I never thought that visiting a museum can be so much fun, I had a blast! Thank you guys!
Ethnography Center of Acre & the Galilee (Weizman St. Old Acre, phone&fax: +972-4-9911004 , email: ozarot@gmail.com)
