Treasures in the Wall are a soon-to-be launched Ethnographic & Folklore Museum incorporated into the thick fortified wall, at the northeastern entrance to Acre's Old City. The 600 square-meter, magnificently renovated space, replete with arches and vaulted ceilings, boasts tools, house wares, clothing, furniture and decorative elements that illustrate daily life in the Galilee during the 18th and 19th centuries.  The artifacts, all original, range from a collection of metal hat molds, to measuring vessels, to implements used by varied craftsmen and artisans, to wares sold in local markets of that period. The permanent collection will be complemented by changing exhibitions provided by diverse collectors in the region.

The Museum comprises two sections: A reproduction of a typical 19th century Galilee market, which was the center of communal and business life of a Galilean town from that period. Beyond peddlers of food, clothing and decorative items, the market was home to all the town craftsmen: blacksmiths, jewelers, pharmacists, tailors, shoemakers, letter writers, hat makers & milliners, money changers/lenders, leather work specialists--who, among others, produced reins for horses—carpenters and cabinet makers--who built both wagons and diverse furniture items--potters and enamel and other artisans.

Each space is fashioned as an original workshop or shop, where visitors can glimpse not only instrumentation and tools of the trade, but also finished products.

The second section of the Museum comprises collections, displayed by different collectors, ranging from a typical Galilean salon, furnished with wood and mother-of-pearl settees, mirrors and game tables; to copper wares and unique boxes, made of wood and other materials; to coins.

The Museum was conceived and built by business persons and Galilee lovers, Dan Hortman and Michael Lurie, both owners of vast and intriguing cultural items from the Galilee, collected over a lifetime. Everything in the Museum was realized on a voluntary basis, through support and in-kind contributions from a host of friends and acquaintances, business colleagues and family.

The Museum will be training tourist guides, so that through the rich and varied displays, they can re-enact for their visitors, life as it was for 18th and 19th century dwellers of the Galilee.

In collaboration with Acre's International Conservation Center, located in the Old City's Pisan Quarter, the Museum also hopes to renew traditional crafts, by offering youngsters of all ages, a range of workshops on these.

Given that the fortified wall, in which the Museum is housed, was a command post during the reign of El Jazzar (who succeeded in defending the city against Napoleon's invasion), it provides a literal illustration of the famed Isaiah (2:4) quote: And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.                  

The Museum will be formally opened on July 3rd, by Minister of Tourism, Mr. Yitzhak Aharonovitch.