A museum funded by Russia collecting hundreds of ancient Palestinian artifacts prepares to open its doors in Jericho, over a year after church officials in the city donated a track of land for the project.
Municipal officials said the project, the result of cooperation between Jericho municipality and Russian Embassy, would be the first Palestinian venue for the display of local antiquities, acting as a place «where the Palestinian story can be told,» said Jericho Mayor Hassan Saleh.
With a tourist industry yet to recover from the blow of the intifadas, Jericho merchants hope the museum will bring tourists back to the city in large numbers, adding to the ruins of Hisham's Palace, the ancient city of Jericho and the cable car to the monastery on the Mount of Temptation.
The museum is built on 105 dunums of land once owned by the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, abandoned during the socialist revolution and handed back over to Russia via the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society in June 2008. Saleh said the site would rejuvenate Russian presence in the Holy Land, and provide opportunities for strengthening the relationship between that nation and Palestine.
The museum stands next to a sycamore tree believed to be the tree of Zacchaeus, the tax collector who climbed up a tree to get a better view of Jesus as he passed by (Luke 19:1-10).
In 2008 when chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat spoke of his hopes for Russian development of the site, he said he would like to see the area, located in the heart of Jericho's commercial district, turned into a site to assist in the rejuvenation of tourism in the area. Until the development began, all that was left of the former Russian pilgrimage site were four graves marked with the names of Russian women, and some old ruins.