Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East

 Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East

The Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East (HMANE, formerly the Harvard Semitic Museum) is an 1889 museum. In 1903, it relocated to its current location at 6 Divinity Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Description

HMANE has always housed the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, as well as a departmental library, a repository for research collections, a public educational institute, and an archaeological exploration center. The museum's early accomplishments included the first scientific excavations in the Holy Land (at Samaria in 1907-1912) and excavations at Nuzi in Mesopotamia and Tell el-Khaleifeh in Sinai, where the earliest alphabet was discovered. doubtful - debate

Pottery, cylinder seals, sculpture, coins, cuneiform tablets, and Egyptian mummy sarcophagi are among the museum's artefacts. Many are from excavations sponsored by museums in Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Cyprus, Israel, and Tunisia. Plaster casts of Shalmaneser III's Black Obelisk, Hammurabi's Laws, and Esarhaddon's Stele are on display at the museum.

History

Above the entrance, the original name is carved.

On September 27, 1900, the architectural firm A. W. Longfellow broke ground on the current HMANE site. Construction was completed in the spring of 1902, and the museum's public areas opened on February 5, 1903. 

During WWII, the museum's facilities were repurposed, and it was closed to the public from August 1942 to April 1946. It was closed to the public again twelve years later, from 1958 to 1982.

On October 14, 1970, a bomb exploded on the third floor of the museum, which housed the Center for International Affairs at the time.

The museum reopened in April 1982, with Harvard President Derek Bok speaking at the ceremony.

Investigation and publication

The museum supports archaeological field research into the complex societies of the Near East, with a focus on ancient cultures related to the Bible's world. The Ashkelon Excavations (The Leon Levy Expedition), led by Honorary Museum Director Lawrence E. Stager, Dr. Daniel M. Master, and Dr. Adam Aja, attracts over 100 staff, students, and volunteers each year. The museum publishes archaeological, historical, philological, and cultural studies of the Near East through its Harvard Semitic Series and Harvard Semitic Monographs, many of which present the research of department faculty and students.

Visit

One of the four Harvard Museums of Science and Culture is the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East. We recommend that you read our Know Before You Go policy.

Admission is free.

Sunday-Friday, 11:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.

Closed:

10 October 2022 (Indigenous Peoples' Day)

The 23rd of November, 2022 (day before Thanksgiving)

24th of November, 2022 (Thanksgiving Day)

The 23rd of December, 2022 (day before Christmas Eve)

24th of December, 2022 (Christmas Eve)

25th of December, 2022 (Christmas)

26th of December, 2022 (day after Christmas)

January 1st, 2023 (New Year's Day)