Terra Sancta Museum: publishing of the first catalog on the precious archeological collection

“A compilation of the most significant objects of the Terra Sancta Museum“: with these words Sara Cibin curator of the catalog, describes the volume: Selected Works from the collection of the Terra Sancta Museum. The catalog, published by Edizioni Terra Santa, allows to have a general look at the collections of objects preserved in the different areas of the Terra Sancta Museum and a general view of the collection of masterpieces of the important heritage that has been preserved for centuries by the Franciscans in the Holy Land.

Some of the objects contained in the volume can be admired today in the archaeological section of the museum located in the Convent of the Flagellation, along the Via Dolorosa. The museum is visited by 30,000 tourists a year, and, together with the multimedia room, it helps tourists and pilgrims to immerse themselves into the complex history of Jerusalem and learn about life in the time of Jesus through significant archaeological finds.

The work also has an evocative function since it provides an anticipation of what will be: the vestments woven with gold, the silver chalices, the vases of the ancient Franciscan pharmacy and the many objects that the Custody of the Holy Land has been able to preserve in these centuries and have not yet been exposed to public. In fact, works are still ongoing for the construction of the historic wing of the Terra Sancta Museum which will be in the Convent of St. Saviour in Jerusalem. The museum is an evolving entity. The director of the Cultural Heritage of the Custody Fr. Stéphane Milovitch and the director of the archaeological museum Fr. Eugenio Alliata who defines the Terra Sancta Museum as “a living organism, whose life is in symbiosis with the last two centuries of the history of the Custody and explain it well at the same time a challenge launched for the future and towards the world”. A challenge that ATS pro Terra Sancta wanted to take up and support by financing the creation of the catalog, but also by supporting the many scholars and volunteers who contributed to its realization.

“The catalog is the result of collective work – Sara says – and there are many authors and photographers who have contributed to the success of the project”. Like the objects analyzed and presented in the volume, they come from all over Europe and have made their specialist skills available to enhance a very important heritage.

In addition to the initial catalog, the first official volume of the series is already available: “Sacred vestments from Europe to the Holy Land”, an important study on the vestments used in the liturgy by Maria Pia Pettinau Vescina. Other study works will follow: research on goldsmithery, Franciscan silverware and mother of pearl, an art little studied but of great importance in the Holy Land, has already started. The study will include miniatures and many other hidden treasures that are part of this immense heritage.As the Custos, Fr. Francesco Patton writes in the preface, it contains an heritage that makes “the world know about the roots of Christianity and the history of the Christian presence in the Holy Land”.