Jerusalem ‘Deep’ exhibition to remain open through Hanukka

100,000 visitors in 3 months have been awed by the photographs and films on display.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Creatures from the deep (photo credit: MBARI/Bloomfield Science Museum)
Creatures from the deep
(photo credit: MBARI/Bloomfield Science Museum)
The number of visitors to the Deep exhibition on amazing deep-sea creatures at Jerusalem’s Bloomfield Science Museum – about 100,000 in the last three months – has surpassed the number who saw it in Paris and London.
As a result, management has received permission from globetrotting journalist and film director/producer Claire Nouvian, who spent more than 10 years shooting the creatures for French and international TV, to extend its stay to December 9, the last day of Hanukka, instead of packing it up on Wednesday, as had been planned.
The breathtaking exhibit of illuminated photographs, films and preserved remains, lent by the French Museum of Natural History, has attracted children and adults from around the country. All of the sea creatures live deep in the ocean where it was discovered recently that living things can survive without light and easily available food.
The huge number of species, many of which look as if they were designed for a science-fiction movie, are still there but many of them are in danger of extinction due to environmental changes and overfishing.
Museum director Maya Halevy said that “the Israeli public has proven that they are no less curious [about natural phenomena] than their counterparts around the world. The exhibition’s success has exceeded our expectations.”
Even extending visiting hours to 8 p.m. in July and August didn’t reduce the pressure at the ticket office, she said.