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Aminta Lagos
English 114B
Professor Malvin
17, March 2015
Skirball Cultural Center
The Skirball Cultural Center is a museum that holds both exhibitions Noahs Ark and
Visions and Values: Jewish Life from Antiquity to America as well as a few others. It sits
atop a low hill surrounded by lush greenery and dark green mountains. Its a beautiful
building but the inside is even more gorgeous and surprising with a few exhibitions to
explore. One of them being the Visions and Values: Jewish Life from Antiquity to America.
Large display glasses surround the models of artifacts that were once used by the Jews from
thousands of years ago. Information is written on the walls about each of the artifacts held in
the glass. Hanukkah candles and lamps are in one section. The next section is about life and
death and how its all already decided, from what you wear during infancy to death. A
circumcision cap and dress, white in color and long in length. The burial shroud, also white
in color stands behind the glass as if being worn. The times of suffering, struggles and
persecution are noted in every corner with dates and sentence after sentence scrawled on the
wall. The atmosphere is quiet, but only because theres but a few people in the giant room
that is the museum. The Holocaust section is the most haunting. Pictures of Jewish victims
are hung on a matte black wall. It is a memorial built into a circle with a short corridor. The
corridor hangs six pictures, a miniscule number from the actual six million victims that
perished during World War II in

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the 1940s. Two young children, two young people, and two elderlies. Both males and
females. Their eyes are full of despair, of sorrow yet still full of life. The air is thick. It is an
area that is warmer due to the torch that is lit in remembrance and honor of those brave souls
that suffered and were taken too soon because of the blatant hatred and ignorance of those
around them. The most striking thing in the museum is that last section where those portraits
of the victims are only six of six million.
The Skirball Cultural Center is a beautiful place and strikingly sentimental and
informative. This museum serves to the community as a place of learning. It serves as a
highly educative space for those who have placed an interest in learning about the history of
Jews. Even for those who are not as interested in it, it is the best place to learn so much about
the history of the Jews, from their origins to today. Their history, from the very beginning, is
one of the most riveting and a true example of strength and perseverance. At first, seeing the
first display I wasnt expecting much. Going from display to display and progressing from
one side of the room to the other, my interest was greatly enlarged. Seeing how they were
persecuted in every single place and how they still kept going and becoming bigger people
than their enemies, always striving for the best and always persevering through all the
obstacles they were thrown. I was able to explore the museum by myself mostly, but for
about 3 visitors that did not stay for long, and that was the best way I was able to take so
much information in and see each display for as long as I wanted to. It was one of the best
experiences Ive had in a museum before and I will definitely be visiting the Skirball Cultural
Center again.