Long before anyone ever thought of rebranding Jerusalem, the archetype for its user-friendly, family-atmosphere cultural image existed in the home of an ophthalmologist and his cousin/wife from Austro-Hungary - a building purchased from a 19th century Arab dignitary.
Dr. Avraham Albert Ticho arrived in Jerusalem in 1912, an emissary of a German Zionist organization, sent here to establish a clinic. His cousin Anna who had been studying art since the age of 15 soon followed him, and the two were married. She began painting seriously while the two were stationed in Damascus during WW I, and several years after their return to Jerusalem, they purchased the house, which had been one of the first to be built outside the Old City Walls.
The clinic operated until the doctor's death in 1960, and the home became a central venue for Jerusalem's social and cultural milieu. Israel prize winner Anna continued painting until her own death in 1980, and her paintings are internationally acclaimed and found in museums around the world. Upon her death, she bequeathed the house and its collections to the people of Jerusalem - a public center of the arts that is administered by the Israel Museum.
Besides the collection of works by Anna Ticho and Dr. Ticho's Hanukkah lamps, the garden restaurant has become a favorite venue for Friday morning concerts and other cultural happenings.
Ticho House
7 Harav Kook Street
Tel: +972-2-6245068
The article is courtesy of the Jerusalem Tourism Authority
http://tour.jerusalem.muni.il