the Israel Museum
Which country did Rockefeller Museum belong to from 1967 to 1968?
Rockefeller Museum The Rockefeller Museum , formerly the Palestine Archaeological Museum ( PAM ) , is an archaeology museum located in East Jerusalem that houses a large collection of artifacts unearthed in the excavations conducted in Mandatory Palestine , in the 1920s and 1930s . The museum is under the management of the Israel Museum and houses the head office of the Israel Antiquities Authority . History . Prior to the establishment of the Rockefeller Museum , the British Mandate 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 at the time was the Franciscan Biblical Museum , built in 1902 . In 1906 , the Jewish National Fund began to negotiate the purchase of Karm el-Sheikh , a tract of land facing the northeastern corner of the Old City walls , to house the Bezalel School of Art and Crafts . The founder of the school , Boris Schatz envisaged a museum and university that would overlook the Temple Mount . In 1919 , town planner Patrick Geddes proposed the establishment of an antiquities museum at this site . To further the project , the Mandate authorities proposed a special tourism tax in 1924 . Visiting Mandatory Palestine in 1925 , during the days of the British Mandate , James Henry Breasted , founder and director of the University of Chicagos Oriental Institute , recognized the need for an archaeological museum in Jerusalem to house important regional finds . Encouraged by Lord Plumer , the British High Commissioner , Breasted approached American philanthropist John D . Rockefeller , Jr. , who agreed to donate two million dollars toward the project . Previously , he had offered to build an archeological museum in Cairo , Egypt , but he was turned down , possibly due to pressure from the British government , which was anxious to keep America from establishing a foothold in the region . The museum was designed by Austen Harrison , ( Austen St . Barbe Harrison ) , chief architect of the Mandatory Department of Public Works , who drew up blueprints for a white limestone building integrating eastern and western architectural elements . The cornerstone of the new museum was laid on June 19 , 1930 , but construction was delayed due to the discovery of tombs dating to the fifth century B.C . at the building site . 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 museum opened to the public on January 13 , 1938 . Officially , it was called the Palestine Archaeological Museum , but was also known as the Rockefeller Museum . Until the final days of the Mandate period , the museum was administered by the British Palestine Government . On 1 April 1948 it was closed for the public . 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 . The board ran the museum until 1966 . In the 1950s controversies arose about objects removed by the two sides to Amman and the Israeli side respectively . 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 . Seven months later , when the 1967 Six-Day War broke out , the museum was captured by an Israeli paratroop brigade . Its hexagonal tower was used as a lookout . Fierce fighting took place here between Israeli and Jordanian forces , culminating in an Israeli victory . The Museum was then officially renamed as the Rockefeller Museum . 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 ) . Inside what was to have been the rear courtyard of the museum stood ( until it died after nearly 300 years in 1998 ) one of the oldest pine trees in the country . According to Arab legend , on the site of this pine tree , Ezra the Scribe sat and wrote the Torah for Israel . The stump may still be seen behind the museum . Collections . The museums first curator was John H . Iliffe , who arranged the artifacts in chronological order , from two million years ago to 1700 AD . Among the museums prized possessions are 8th-century wooden panels from the al-Aqsa Mosque and 12th-century ( Crusader-period ) marble lintels from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre . Most of the collection consists of finds from the 1920s and 1930s . On display are artifacts unearthed in Jerusalem , Megiddo , Ashkelon , Lachish , Samaria , and Jericho . One of the Lachish letters is on permanent display at the museum , as are the statuary and stucco decorations from the Umayyad Hishams Palace . Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered at Qumran between 1947 and 1956 , consisting of Jewish texts and commentaries , were housed in the Rockefeller Museum . In 1967 , following the Israeli capture of East Jerusalem , for preservation , scrolls were relocated to the Shrine of the Book , a specially designed building on the grounds of the Israel Museum , with the ownership of these scrolls having been heavily contested ever since . The Copper Scroll was taken to the Jordan Archaeological Museum in Amman . Exhibitions . The museum regularly hosts special exhibitions , such as the 2019/20 exhibition of Armenian ceramics in Jerusalem . Further reading . - Memoirs , David Rockefeller , New York : Random House , 2002 . External links . - Rockefeller Archaeological Museum Homepage