A day trip to the Ralli Museum in Caesarea
If you want to have a nice day trip that combines art and Mediterranean breeze, a 20 minute drive to Caesarea treasures a day full of experiences and art.
You`re invited to the Ralli Museum in Caesarea. Contemporary Latin American art experience, along with surrealist and classical art
The Harry Recanati Foundation is a private non-profit institution. Its main purpose is to present and spread the quality of contemporary Latin American art, through Ralli Museums.
The Ralli Museum 1 is a magnificent building in a spectacular Spanish classic colonial style, overlooking a garden of sculptures, trees, and the sea. The museum includes several halls, treasuring Latin American and European art from South and Central America.
Most of the collections on display belong to the surrealist movement. On the second floor, you will find 40 original sculptures by the famous Spanish artist Salvador Dali. A few steps away you`d find a wide balcony with a sculpture plaza overlooking the sea. If you look through the arches of the sculpture plaza, you will see the arches of the famous Roman aqueduct of Caesarea on the horizon- the aqueduct built by Herod.
The archaeological exhibition “Herod’s Dream” is displayed on the lower floor, describing Caesarea over the years. The exhibition illustrates the life at different ages, the work process of the archaeologists, and the way of documenting the findings. This exhibition can be used as an introduction or a summary of a trip to the ancient site of Caesarea.
The changing exhibition hall is now presenting the exhibition of the famous Belgian artist René Magritte. In the lobby, there is a collection of medals minted in France showing the portraits of famous artists from the 13th century to the present day. Among the exhibits are Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Goya, Giacometti, etc. In April 2007, a new exquisite museum was inaugurated – the Ralli Museum 2 called “Memory of Spain”, which is located next to the old Ralli Museum 1.
Ralli Museum 2 – “Memory of Spain”
Among the exhibits on the four floors of the museum, you will find original classical paintings 300-400 years old from the 16th to the 18th centuries dealing with Biblical topics: Adam and Eve, Noah and the Ark, Rebecca and Jacob, etc. All the pictures were restored before being hung in the museum. On the lower floor is a wall dedicated entirely to the topic of Spain’s deportation.
On the top floor is a series of 12 paintings created by the significant Spanish painter Pedro Oriente
1580 – 1645
presenting the lives of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel. As far as we know, this is the only complete collection of its kind in the world.
The large and special plaza at the entrance to the museum is inspired by the famous courtyard in the Alhambra Palace located in Granada – Spain. There are beautiful fountains at the plaza, the most prominent of which is the fountain of the 12 lions that symbolize the 12 signs of the zodiac and splashing water like the famous fountain in the Alhambra Palace.
The square also treasures marble statues of the prominent Jews of Spain: Maimonides, Solomon Ibn Gabirol, Yehuda Halevi, Baruch Spinoza, as well as important people who are descended from the Jews such as Christopher Columbus, Nostradamus, and more. Written information about these personalities appears on the walls of the plaza. The statues were sculpted by The famous Spanish artist Maria Ángeles Lázaro Guil, especially for the museum.
In addition, the museum founded a site with marble statues of the key figures who contributed to the establishment of the State of Israel: Benjamin Ze’ev Herzl (Theodor Herzl), David Ben Gurion, Chaim Weizmann, Arthur James Balfour, and Harry Truman.
Parking lot – there`s plenty at the museum plaza, free of charge. Full accessibility for disabled people in both museums
All information and pictures by courtesy of the Ralli Museum of Art in Caesarea The information is provided as a service to our customers. The hotel is not responsible for any changes or updates to the information provided. For updates and bookings go to the Museum website >>
