Museum of Islamic and Near Eastern Cultures

Museum · Islamic material culture · Archaeology of the Muslim periods · The Ottoman Great Mosque

60 Ha'atzmaut Street, Old City, Beer Sheva

A museum of Islamic art and material culture in the Ottoman Great Mosque of 1906 in Beer Sheva's Old City

The Museum of Islamic and Near Eastern Cultures shows historical and modern works of Islamic material culture in the Great Mosque of Beer Sheva, built in 1906 as one of a group of Ottoman government buildings that includes the Governor's House, now the Negev Museum of Art. Its site says the museum was set up following a 2011 High Court of Justice ruling on the use of the building, and that the Ottoman mosque building is its first and most important exhibit. In the enclosed courtyard a permanent display shows archaeological finds from the Muslim periods in the Land of Israel, lent by the Israel Antiquities Authority, with plant and geometric motifs and inscriptions typical of Islamic architectural decoration. The main hall holds changing exhibitions on encounters between Islamic culture, other traditions and contemporary art. The building served as the Negev Museum from 1952, was restored between 2008 and 2010, and opened as this museum in December 2014.