Tourjeman House- Museum on the Seam for Dialogue- Understanding and Coexistence

On the 22nd of June, 1999, Tourjeman House, one of the landmarks that best represent the history of modern Jerusalem, opened its doors and entered its third phase. Museum on the Seam was initiated by the Jerusalem Foundation, the von Holtzbrinck family of Germany, and the designer and curator Raphle Etgar. This unique museum is an innovative Israeli attempt at establishing dialogue, understanding, and coexistence, utilizing state-of-the-art artistic means.

Tourjeman House "Talking Heads" Press room

MUSEUM ON THE SEAM will serve various educational frameworks dealing with coexistence, illustrating themes such as respect for "the other", respect for human rights and liberties, conducting debates and eradicating violence as a viable option for resolving conflicts among various populations in Israel and abroad.

Tourjeman House, constructed during the 1930's by the architect Anton Baramky for his family, has played a notable role in Jerusalem's new history as a significant location in the life of the capital city.

The first time was in 1948, when fighting broke out and the building was seized by Hagana and Israel Defense Forces who used it as a forward military position. The Tourjeman house, named after its landowner, is located in an area known as the Mandelbaum Gate, which is positioned on the seam between Eastern and Western Jerusalem. For 19 years, it served as the exclusive location for meetings held by the Israel-Jordan Armistice Committee, under the auspices of the United Nations, between OF officers and officers of the Jordanian Legion.

The year 1967 marked the second time that Tourjeman House was at the forefront. During the Six Day War, the building endured heavy shelling, traces of which are visible to this very day. During the early 80's, at the initiative of the former Mayor of Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek, the building was renovated and turned into an extension of the Migdal David Museum, where the "A City Reunited" exhibit was displayed.

The year 1999 marks the third historic phase. The building's new role is that of the MUSEUM ON THE SEAM, the first museum in Israel in general, and in Jerusalem in particular, committed to dealing with the conflicts between the various sectors of the Israeli and International society.

MUSEUM ON THE SEAM's unique location in Jerusalem, a city so charged and complex, will be utilized as a center for thought and experienceprovoking visits, and a forum for discussing relations between religious-secular Jews, Arabs and Jews, right and left wingers, as well as veteran citizens and new immigrants, relations between various ethnic groups and Gender relations.

Innovative visual tools and educational systems will be integrated into the various workshops and courses. School children, from Junior High School and up, educators and teachers from Israel and abroad, as well as soldiers and groups of Orthodox Jews, minorities and Palestinians will be confronted with the issues at hand.

The museum's library will include a wide selection of books dealing with the various issues of social conflict. A digital archive will offer 20,000 documents, including press clips, protocols of the Israel-Jordan Armistice Committee and other committees, agreements and letters exchanged regarding issues dealt with by the museum.

Organizations, both Israeli and international, that deal in tolerance and coexistence, will be able to utilize the museum as a forum for conducting academic and educational seminars and symposiums.

The museum exhibit is designed as a route made up of state-of-the-art multimedia stations that provides instructional tools for groups or assistance to individual visitors in the selecting and planning their personal tour. During a tour of the museum, the information and interactive activity stations, based on innovative technological tools, are at the visitors' disposal.

The museum's spaces are meticulously planned - the entrance to the museum, with its scar-faced wall, is a silent testimony to the price of the violent conflict. Further on, along the exhibit route are artistic and conceptual expressions of life in the "no-mans" land and the seam-line manifestations of the violent conflicts in Jerusalem and throughout the world.

The museum's texts are displayed in three languages - Hebrew, Arabic and English. The Easy Guide system also provides narration in Russian, French, German and Japanese.

The museum is open to the public:

MUSEUM ON THE SEAM
4 Heil Hahandasa St.
Jerusalem
Tel: 972-2-6281278