What is a house?
This year, more than ever, this basic question takes on a new meaning. The Shiva events in October left many of us far from home and some of us homeless. We pray every day for the return of the abductees home and are addicted to the moving clips of the soldiers returning home.
So, what is a house? The safe place? The memories? Family? Walls?
The "Houses from the Inside" festival was supposed to take place in October 2023, but the October Sabbath postponed it as well. More than half a year of a city of evacuees, a poor national mood, and a nation looking for a home and comfort led the organizers to nevertheless hold "Homes from the Inside" in Jerusalem in a special version adapted to the situation.
"Houses from the inside" events are an international institution inspired by open houses worldwide, architecture festivals held in major cities in the world: London, New York, Barcelona, Melbourne, Rome, Dublin, and also in neighboring Tel Aviv.
This year the festival includes hundreds of tours and houses in a variety of fascinating categories that connect the past, present, and future of the capital. This is alongside personal stories that the walls have absorbed over the years. For those who haven't had time yet, it will be possible to visit the National Library, the new tabernacle of Bezalel, and more. Tours delve into ancient traditions alongside contemporary culture and art, visiting significant points in the lives of cultural giants. Tours focusing on the architectural aspect of the city with a view towards the future. Tours of the cornerstones of the capital.
Architecture enthusiasts will be treated to a fascinating innovation for the first time at the festival - hosting architects from the leading offices from Israel and the world, as part of a collaboration with the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design Jerusalem, which recently returned to the city center, with the opening of the new campus named after Jeff and Morton Mendel. During the two weekends of houses from the inside, tours and lectures will be held at the new campus.
If you are one of those who like to take a look at other people's houses and also one of those who know exactly what makes them tick, you can choose what suits you according to a catalog organized for you by the organizers of the festival.
* New and exciting: in this category you will find the lesser-known houses, secret sites that are opened to the public for the first time, glimpses behind the scenes, and visiting experiences that we have organized especially for you.* For Jerusalem lovers and the curious: the tours will warm your heart, bring you together with the different communities in the city and with the thousands of years of construction in it and remind you how amazing this city is.* Architecture for architects: the tours, the newest and most interesting construction sites and buildings in special tours for professionals and architecture enthusiasts.* Art and literature in Jerusalem: in this category you will find tours following the plots of books that take place in Jerusalem, tours in the childhood neighborhoods of writers, visits to artists' houses, graffiti tours, and meetings with curators, creators, and poets in the spaces where they work.* Private homes: one of the popular categories at home events from the inside, because who doesn't like to visit beautiful homes, find out how they are designed, and get inspired?* Ecological and social: the sites, the tours, and the people who focus on the preservation of urban nature and the environment in Jerusalem.
October 7, the elephant in the room
It is impossible to hold a cultural event in Israel these days without referring to Shiva in October and certainly not when the subject is home.
Jeroz tour that will be conducted by architect Moshe Shapira and commemorates his son who was murdered by terrorists. Meeting point: Bezalel alley corner Shmuel HaNagid.
A tour in memory of Aner Shapira, a native of Jerusalem and a lover of the city, who was murdered on October 7 while heroically protecting his friends in Migunit, fighting terrorists, and saving lives. The tour will be led by his father, the architect Moshe Shapira, a partner in houses from the interior of Jerusalem for the past 18 years and a travel companion. The tour will pass through the city center, from the old Bezalel to the new Bezalel, following heritage, personalities, and buildings for preservation and will surpass the city that Aner loved so much.
Friday, 12.4, 14:00. Tour is limited to 20 participants with early registration.
Mishelach studio in the house of the painter Litvinovsky where an exhibition of the artist and curator of Bari Gallery, Sophie Barzon Mackay, is presented. 29th Street in November 10 A.
Architects for the renovation of the place: Studio PROJECT architect Ruth Leonov, 2021.
An opportunity to get to know the Mishelach studio project and the painter Pinchas Litvinovsky's house on the old Talbia-Katmon border, where the studio operates. The house was built at the beginning of the 20th century by the Arab-Christian Salman family, and its second floor was rented by the British assistant commissioner. In 1948, at the end of the war, the house passed into the possession of the Jerusalem Municipality, which made it available to the painter Pinchas Litvinovsky - later the Darling of Jerusalem (1970) and winner of the Israel Prize (1980), and he lived there until his death in 1984. The house remained with all its contents for about 40 years, until at the beginning of 2020, young female artists began to work there and established Mishelach studio there - the first center in Israel for women's art.
The exhibition "Silver Water and Starry Land" by the artist and curator of Bari Gallery, Sophie Barzon Mackay, is currently on display there. In the last three years, Barzon Makai photographed the living room of her home in Kibbutz Bari. The last photo was taken on 1.10.23. In these photographs Barzon gave a new interpretation to the familiar and the everyday by photographing her family and bringing into her living room allegorical animals from a favorite children's book and symbols of spirit and earthiness. On October 7, reality suddenly invaded the delicate photographs, expiring and loading them with memories of everything that was and was lost. And now they touch on questions of time and place, tell the stories of memory of the artist's previous homes, myths and legends, and the personal and collective memory that we are experiencing in recent months. Curator: Mittal Manor.
Litvinovsky's atelier will also display a work in collaboration with the community under the direction of artist Yael Serlin - a prayer embroidery created from more than 400 pieces woven by people across the country for the kidnapped, the murdered, and the fallen. The work was created with the support of the Plastic Art Division of the Jerusalem Municipality. The building has wooden stairs for preservation and it is not accessible.
Guided tours about the history of the house and the exhibition will be held on Thursdays at 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. and on Fridays at 11:00 a.m. Thursday, 4.4, 14:00-18:00; Friday, 5.4, 10:00-14:00; Thursday, 11.4, 14:00-18:00, Friday, 12.4, 10:00-14:00. Open house and 6 tours for the first 40 visitors.
'furrow // hut # dot.' - Documentation project conducted by Yad Ben Zvi - 14 Ibn Gvirol St., Rehavia.
The exhibition 'Telem // Hut # Point.', presents images and symbols in the landscapes of the Western Negev and the surrounding area, the work of artists living in the area, who painted their surroundings and responded to the events of the past and present. The exhibition will show, among other things, a diary of paintings under the influence of October 7 by the artist Yohanan Drucker, a member of Kibbutz Bari, and ceramic works that the artist Michal Marom rescued from her home in Kibbutz Re'im. The exhibition was created during a meeting with the residents and the evacuated settlements, and by a documentation delegation of the Yad Ben-Zvi Department of Curation and Visual Documentation that has been operating in the Gaza Envelope for the past few months. A gallery talk with the curator Dr. Nirit Shalev-Kalifa.
The meetings are part of an open day at the Yad Ben-Zvi compound, during which there will also be a fair of farmers from the south, the Biq'a and the north of the country, in cooperation with "Israeli Agriculture", art stalls, coffee, and flowers for Shabbat.
Friday, 5.4, 9:30 and 11:00. 2 sessions for the first 40. No pre-registration is required.
Three personal recommendations:
For the organized: Plan ahead for the weekend in the city - beyond a discount at the city hotels and securing a spot on popular tours (free of charge) enjoy the mountain air, the atmosphere of peaks, good food, and a little sanctity won't hurt... For families and nature enthusiasts: Who said there is no sea in Jerusalem? Visit the aquarium - and enjoy a giant and spectacular space with tons of water of the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, and even the Dead Sea... For always hungry individuals: Don't leave the city without a stock of Rugelach from the bakery of Marzipan.
"Homes from within set out in partnership with the Jerusalem Municipality, the Israel Tradition, the Jerusalem Development Authority."
For those booking accommodation packages in the city, early registration for tours and hotel discounts will be opened.
For those booking accommodation packages in Jerusalem during the festival days, early registration for tours and lectures will be opened. For details, visit the website.