The Tower of David Museum

New exhibition at the Tower of David Museum

Opening April 30

Jerusalem: A Medical Diagnosis

Jerusalem: A Medical Diagnosis takes a broad and original look at the "medical record" of Jerusalem, the human struggle for a healthy life in the unique context of the holy city.

Medicine in Jerusalem has always been a sequence of apostasy, sickness and epidemic intersected by an overriding story of healing, miracles and faith. The exhibition looks at the partnerships and contradictions found in the space between miracles and medicine.  

"Jerusalem: A Medical Diagnosis" touches on the thousands of years of life in the city through the lens of medical milestones beginning with the days of King David and King Hezekiah until the modern history of Hadassah and Shaare Zedek hospitals. The exhibition recounts the uses and types of cures that have survived from Biblical times and reports on how sickness and plague have changed the fate of history. It shows how the holiness and status of Jerusalem brought streams of pilgrims, priests, scholars and travelers to its gates. Many of them needed medical services while others provided medical relief. It focuses on the cures that were invented along with wonder drugs (a pre-cursor to the antibiotic) and potions.  It also narrates the wars of faith and missionary activity in the 19th century and early 20th century which ironically led to the establishment of hospitals and clinics: a sanatorium established by the London Society for promoting Christianity Among the Jews, Marienstift Children's Hospital, Meyer Rothschild Hospital - first Jewish hospital outside the Old City, Bikur Holim, English Mission Hospital and the Italian Hospital. The positive outcome was the establishment of hospitals that made Jerusalem a center of advanced medicine. In a city that has always been divided by religions, today doctors and nurses of different faiths work side by side together treating patients from all backgrounds.

Exhibits have been brought from around the world and many are being shown to the public for the first time at the Tower of David Museum.  Among the artifacts are photo albums from the Rothschild Archives in England, an x-ray machine dating back to the 1920s, the door knocker from the Order of St John’s hospital (lent by the Order of St John in London) which according to belief came from the original Crusader hospital, record books from Shaare Zedek, lotions and potions, diaries of nurses and doctors from the early 20th century, cuddly toys from 1908 that made children smile despite their illness. Every artifact tells a distinct story.

The exhibition is spread throughout the Citadel - from the exhibition room in the Phasael Tower, down through the courtyard and garden and into the Crusader Hall. As part of the on-going events surrounding the exhibition, there will be guided tours that use the exhibition as a platform to explore different places in and around the Old City.

Curator: Dr. Nirit Shalev - Khalifa

Photos by David Winokour

Adults: Museum visit: 36 NIS, Night Spectacular: 55 NIS, combo ticket: 70 NIS | Children (until age 18) and seniors: Museum visit: 18 NIS, Night Spectacular: 45 NIS, combo ticket: 55 NIS | Students: Museum visit: 25 NIS, Night Spectacular: 45 NIS, combo ticket: 55 NIS | Soldiers, handicapped: Museum visit: 15 NIS, Night Spectacular: 30 NIS, combo ticket: 40 NIS