It should be a busy season for architect Michal Kimmel-Eshkelot: Construction of his latest project, the new Steinhardt Museum of Natural History started this week and the pivotal project is slated to open in March 2017.
Adjoined to the Tel Aviv University (TAU), the museum in the shape of Noah’s Ark, will also be home to the Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies, the Zoological Museum, the Biological Anthropology Museum, the National Herbarium and the public education program – in total, more than five million specimens are going to be exhibited on 8000 square metres.
Name givers are Michael and Judy Steinhardt, the project is financed by the American Friends of TAU, the government and private investors. Steinhardt is also one of the founders of Birthright Israel.
“I believe the five million plus specimens that will be in the museum on opening day are already a dynamic record of Israel’s biodiversity and the history and evolution of humankind in the Middle East,” said Steinhardt. “Through the museum, we have the opportunity to ensure that scientists, researchers and people of all stripes who are interested in preserving the past to better understand the future will have a place to observe and study that history for themselves.”
