Sick Man of Europe

A current temporary exhibit at the Islamic Art Museum http://www.islamicart.co.il/english/ is "The Sick Man of Europe" -- as the late Ottoman Empire was called. It combines photographs of the Turkish army in the Great War, diagrams of destroyed Armenian churches, and a 10-minute film on whose sound track we hear two Armenian composers of the early 20th century discussing music plus a very little bit of music.

We arrived two minutes past noon for the guided tour that started at noon. "Where does the tour start?" we asked the mand selling tickets. "Right over there," he said, pointing across the lobby. After a 10-minute wait we asked again about the tour. "Oh, it's already downstairs." OK, we had not originally asked where it was, and it had indeed started from the lobby.

Another temporary exhimit shows the work of a contemporary watchmaker, Itay Noy. For this the guide was extremely helpful, pointing out the various ways in which each watch plays with time -- with trasparent faces back to back or with faces opposing a city scene to a country scene. Well worth a visit.

Copyright 2017 Jane S. Fox