It would be easy to walk right past the Hermann Struck Museum, for this beautiful Baerwald house is set in a garden hidden from the busy hilly Arlozorov Street on Haifa`s Hadar. The city`s museums are scattered throughout Haifa, each one specializing in its own genre. The unique ambience of this museum, however, is probably felt because it was the home of this print artist when he arrived in Mandatory Palestine with his wife, Malca, in 1922.

When Hermann Struck died in 1944, his heir (his nephew) donated the house to be used as a museum. It exhibits a collection of 500 works by Struck and his pupils in Israel and abroad, illustrating a spectrum of Struck’s talents in engraving, etching, lithograph, woodblock printing and other techniques. At one time, the museum also exhibited the Musicology and Ethnology collection, but some years ago it was put into storage. This writer searched for links to find out if the exhibits are elsewhere, but the trail ran cold.

I was welcomed to the museum by Dana Nitzani, coordinator of development and management in the main exhibition room, restored with its original features and beautiful windows. Some of the furniture and artifacts that were originally in the home, including Struck`s tallit, are displayed, and the walls are covered with examples of his and others`engravings, portraits and landscapes. The machinery that he used has been maintained. Nitzani explained how engravings are created by covering a brass plate with oil paint, and turning the heavy iron handles that activate the pressure from the roller. Those artists evidently did not need to go to the gym.

Read More