This course will focus on five museums\collections of art from the Islamic lands, from the seventh century to the twenty-first, located in the Israeli public sphere: The Museum of Islamic Art, Jerusalem; The Rockefeller Archaeological Museum, Jerusalem; Museum of Islamic and Near Eastern Cultures, Beer-Sheva; Umm al-Fahem Art Gallery; and the Islamic collection at the Eretz Israel Museum, Ramat Aviv.

In our meetings and museum' tours we will discuss the aspects which lead to the establishment of these museums and did they dictated the curatorial practices: who are the patrons or owners of the museums\collections? in which buildings are these collections reside? how is the museum' space organized? is there a connection between the name of the museum and its exhibitions? what texts accompany the displays? and finally, who is the museum' audience and how is it marketed to the Israeli\Palestinian public? Through critical reading of the Israeli museums of art from the Islamic lands, we will try to appreciate how did the construction of each museum\collection\exhibition reflects the political, social, and cultural aspects of the period.

The first two meetings will be held at the Faculty of the Arts, between 12:00-14:00; the next five meetings will be held at each one of the museums listed and will take place between 12:00-16:00; the last meeting will be held, again, at the Faculty of the Arts, between 12:00-14:00. A detailed schedule of the doubled-meetings and their locations will be given at the beginning of the semester.