A unique project to help discover the Christian roots ... a story that is worth telling.
Today, inside of the walls of Jerusalem, in fact, the cornerstone of the Terra Sancta Museum was laid. This is a project of great value in which the Custody of the Holy Land has decided to invest.
Fr. EUGENIO ALLIATA, ofm
Director of the SBF Museum
“We are beginning work on one of the three sections of the Terra Sancta Museum in Jerusalem. The first section that will be presented will be the section that will give visitors and pilgrims a very modern multimedia experience as they begin their journey on the Via Dolorosa to the Holy Sepulcher, right in this very place.”
Fr. EUGENIO ALLIATA, ofm
Director of the SBF Museum
“According to official statistics, more than one million people walk on the Via Dolorosa each year, and that means that they make this path in the footsteps of Jesus, and they see it as an important experience for their lives.
The goal we have set for ourselves is to contribute to this experience in order to enrich it and to make it more intimate and more deeply felt by all visitors.”
A ceremony that in its gestures has strived to bring out those of the foundation of the first museum in 1928 and that was presided by the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who stressed how the Terra Sancta Museum should not be “just a place to place a large numbers of objects, but a living cultural center, with the goal of letting everyone know about the links between this city and the local and international Christian traditions, from the first centuries to the present day.”
This is an ambitious project that has now brought about the first two sections of the museum in Jerusalem, that, as the Father Custos recalled, “is a city with a universal vocation, where we must insist on the need to preserve the Christian character of the city of Jerusalem as one of the constitutive elements of its universal configuration.”
Giovanni Tortelli
Architect – Tortelli Fressoni Studio
“It is a project that we have worked hard on and that we have worked enthusiastically on, because of the importance of the works and of the places, but also because of the continuous discovery of these places that only Jerusalem, an amazing city, full of charm, has. We begin today with this first part of the museum, which will be a multimedia room, the most popular part that will be open to all, but it is an significant beginning.”
Giovanni Tortelli
Architect – Tortelli Fressoni Studio
The museum is important because it includes extraordinary materials from archaeological and historical points of view that point to Franciscan history in the Holy Land from the year 1200 onwards. We have made other important museums, but this one is really special.”
The event was also attended by the consuls of France, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the United States of America on behalf of the respective states that contributed both to provide the works that will be exhibited and to sponsor this project financially.
DAVIDE LA CECILIA
Consul General of Italy in Jerusalem
We are really proud to have supported the cornerstone of the Terra Sancta Museum today, which is a project that the Custody, together with all of us, have been working on for quite some time and to which a number of European countries have already decided to contribute, including Italy.
DAVIDE LA CECILIA
Consul General of Italy in Jerusalem
We are especially interested the way in which the rooms will be constructed in order to reorganize these donations that come from Italian monarchies and from our maritime republics.
The Pro Terra Sancta oversaw this project, which will involve several phases of work.
TOMMASO SALTINI
Ats Pro Terra Sancta
The Terra Sancta Museum is a great project that we have been working on for more than three or four years. We worked hard during the action, concept and design stages.
Today is an important day because we have finally laid the cornerstone. This is the beginning of the construction phase: we are very happy about this and we hope to complete the project in a couple of years.
TOMMASO SALTINI
Ats pro Terra Sancta
It is important to remember that we are here today in the Monastery of the Flagellation, the place that will host the first two sections of the museum.
Afterwards, we will proceed to complete the archaeological section that will also be hosted here at the Monastery of the Flagellation.
TOMMASO SALTINI
Ats pro Terra Sancta
And in the third phase, we will continue to complete the work at Saint Savior’s, the monastery of the Franciscan friars of the Custody of the Holy Land, and that is where we will host the historical section.
The Holy Land now and through this project, asks for support, just as the Franciscans have supported it.
GUENDALINA SASSOLI
Lenders representative
I have the honor of representing the people who financed part of this museum, that also includes the Custody, of course, in addition to seven private lenders, religious orders that have contributed and they will be honored with their name on a stone on the floor of the museum.
