The Knesset building, which was made possible thanks to a donation from the 55-year-old Rothschild family.
During the tour, Dr. Moshe Foxman, director of the Knesset Visitors Center, will tell how two of the important works of art hanging in the Mishkan were made for members of the Rothschild family through a Soviet spy - without their knowledge. She takes part in the plot, so it is very worthwhile to finish watching it before the tour, so as not to be exposed to spoilers.
Spoiler from the 70s
Two oil paintings by the Barons, hung in the 1970s in a commemorative corner in their memory in the lobby of the Knesset Speaker's Office, hide a fascinating suspense story.
Behind the masterpieces lies a surprising story, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
"The person who painted these pictures was the British painter Eric Hourne, who was killed with a hammer blow to the back of his head in Rome about 25 years ago," said Dr. Foxman. James de Rothschild left six million pounds in his will to build the Knesset. Dorothy took care of the erection of the memorial corner where two photographs of the Baron and his son were initially placed. "In September 1972, the oil paintings replaced the pictures in the Knesset," Foxman explained. The mediator between the painter and the baroness was Sir Anthony Blunt. The Bourne, "explains art expert Dr. Doron Lurie.
To viewers of Netflix's flagship series "The Crown," the name Blunt must be very familiar from the third season.
"Blunt was for many years the art curator of Queen Elizabeth II, and the head of the prestigious Corto Institute of Art in London for 27 years. From his private collection is an important picture by Nicola Fussen for the National Gallery in London, "The Children of Israel Dance Around the Golden Calf."
Sir Blunt from The Crown, Photo: Netflix
The fifth person
Today we know why he contributed this precious image to the nation.
Dr. Lurie: "On November 15, 1979, a British MP presented a surprising question to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: 'Who was the' fifth person 'in the spy gang called the Cambridge Quintet?", To which she simply replied:' Sir Anthony "The next day, Buckingham Palace deprived him of the nobility he had received."
Sir Anthony's actions were already exposed in 1964, but in exchange for his confession and cooperation on his part, and also to save shame from the palace, this was kept secret.
"The donation to the museum was a kind of 'atonement' for his actions. It turned out that for decades he had been spying for the Communist USSR, as part of a gang that also included spies Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, Kim Philby and John Cairncross."
Anyone interested in joining the special tour, to be impressed by the story that seems to have been taken directly from a suspense story, and to get a glimpse of significant moments in the 55 years of the Knesset's existence in the Government Campus, is invited to be updated on the Knesset website.
