Boy breaks 3,500-year-old jar at Israel Museum

From the Mona Lisa in the Louvre (Paris), to the Quimbaya treasure in the Museum of the Americas (Madrid), most works of art in museums are either relics or protected by some artificial barrier Which separates them from their audience. However, this is not the case at the Hecht Museum in Haifa (Israel).

On August 28, 2024, a 4 year old boy who visited the collection with their parents accidentally broke A Bronze Age ship with no protective glass Avoid these types of incidentsIt is classified as “rare” by the institution.

In line with the wishes of its founder, Reuben Hecht, the museum that is the protagonist of the news wants to offer A different experience from the rest of the museums in the world: With the idea of ​​”making archaeological objects accessible to the general public”, There are no barriers to its features Which keeps the work away from threatening agents, thus placing the care of the work under the responsibility of the visitors. Which leads to the question: What has happened in this case?

3,500 year old ship

Because of its geographical location and the myriad civilizations that have settled there throughout history, Israel is One of the places of greatest archaeological interest in the world: it has several sites where, for example, artifacts from the 2nd century AD have been found, but also from prehistoric periods such as the Bronze Age.

The damaged ship belongs to this second mentioned phase, which, according to the museum, has reached its maximum 3,500 years old. In other words, it is an item that was manufactured between the years 1150 BC and 1500 BCbefore the time of King David and King Solomon, and which was used Transportation and storage of liquids Local consumption, especially wine and olive oil.

To emphasize further, this is a a container of sortsSince, according to the description of the institution, although Similar vessels have been found Of the other sites in the area, many of them have deteriorated: this, on the other hand, was intact at the time of excavation.

The object in the collection was located at the entrance to the Hecht Museum, the place where the incident took place. The boy’s father, Alex, told the BBC Her son “took the jar for granted” because he was “curious” To know what is inside.” After this, he was surprised to see the broken pot and at first he thought: “This is not done by my son.”

The consequences of breaking up a Bronze Age relic

The Hecht Museum has already launched Restoration work on the remains: For this, Roy Shaffir, a curator and conservation specialist at the School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures at the University of Haifa, oversees it. Because of the wide graphic record that exists Regarding the ship, the organization has announced that “the urn will be returned to its place in a short while.”

In form of Consequences for the family In the accident, the museum did not apply the universal rule that “he who breaks, pays.” On the contrary, as local media indicated, the director of the collection, Inbal Rivlin, The boy and his parents were invited for a private meeting for facilities. And, although he highlighted that the museum takes very seriously cases in which visitors intentionally damage pieces, this last fact it was an accident,

Similarly, the museum It is not proposed to modify the security measures Of the artifacts on display: “Despite the rare incident with the jar, the Hecht Museum will continue this tradition.”