Negev Museum of Art

The Negev Museum of Art is an art museum in Negev, Israel. It is located in the Old City of Be'er Sheva. The building is the former Governor's Mansion, built in 1906 by the Ottomans as part of government edifices that include the Seraya and the local mosque.

The two-floor building is a typical Ottoman “konak” house: the home of a governor or some other dignitaries, in which official meeting and receptions are held. Its facade has a four arched portico. During World War I the building housed the Officer of the British Staff and in 1938 it became a Bedouin girls school. Various modifications to the building were made during the British Mandate period, including adding an inner staircase and two rooms in the upper floor.

After Israel's War of Independence in 1948 the building served the IDF. It turned to its civil use again after the foundation of the city of Be'er Sheva as the city's first municipality.

In the 1970s the municipality moved to its new building and the Governor's Mansion housed the art wing of the Negev Museum of Archaeology located in the nearby former Ottoman mosque. In 1998 the building was declared unsafe and was closed to the public.

A conservation process had begun, carried out by the conservation department of the antiquities authority, led by architect Ze'ev Gur. The works adapted the building to modern museum requirements, including disabled accessibility and climate control, making it an officially recognized museum by Israel's Museum Council. The building was re-opened as the Negev Museum of Art in 2004.

The museum is a municipal museum and it has a collection of mostly modern Israeli art, including local and regional artists. In its early stages, as a wing of the Negev Museum of Archaeology it displayed its permanent collection and occasional exhibitions. Since 1987, under the directorship of Noa Tal, the museum started to operate independently, displaying temporary exhibitions of Israeli and international art. During the 1990s, under the directorship of Galia Gavish, the museum expanded its collection especially in ceramics and ethnographic works of Ethiopian Jews. Gavish also initiated an international Ceramics Biennial in Be'er Sheva.

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