Although Jerusalem is known primarily for its religious significance, the city is also home to many artistic and cultural venues. The Israel Museum attracts nearly one million visitors a year, approximately one third of them tourists.The 20 acre (81,000 m2) museum complex comprises several buildings featuring special exhibits and extensive collections of Judaica, archaeological findings, and Israeli and European art. The Dead Sea scrolls, discovered in the mid 20th century in the Qumran caves near the Dead Sea, are housed in the Museum's Shrine of the Book.The Youth Wing, which mounts changing exhibits and runs an extensive art education program, is visited by 100,000 children a year. The museum has a large outdoor sculpture garden, and a scale-model of the Second Temple was recently moved from the Holyland Hotel to a new location on the museum grounds.The Rockefeller Museum, located in East Jerusalem, was the first archaeological museum in the Middle East. It was built in 1938 during the British Mandate.
Yad Vashem, Israel's national memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, houses the world's largest library of Holocaust related information,with an estimated 100,000 books and articles. The complex contains a state of the art museum that explores the genocide of the Jews through exhibits that focus on the personal stories of individuals and families killed in the Holocaust and an art gallery featuring the work of artists who perished. Yad Vashem also commemorates the 1.5 million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis, and honors the Righteous among the Nations.The Museum on the Seam, which explores issues of coexistence through art, is situated on the road dividing eastern and western Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, established in the 1940s,has appeared around the world.Other arts facilities include the International Convention Center (Binyanei HaUma) near the entrance to city, where the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra plays, the Jerusalem Cinemateque, the Gerard Behar Center in downtown Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Music Center in Yemin Moshe,and the Targ Music Center in Ein Kerem. The Israel Festival, featuring indoor and outdoor performances by local and international singers, concerts, plays and street theater, has been held annually since 1961; for the past 25 years, Jerusalem has been the major organizer of this event. The Jerusalem Theater in the Talbiya neighborhood hosts over 150 concerts a year, as well as theater and dance companies and performing artists from overseas.The Khan Theater, located in a caravansarai opposite the old Jerusalem train station, is the city's only repertoire theater.The station itself has become a venue for cultural events in recent years, as the site of Shav'ua Hasefer, an annual week long book fair, and outdoor music performances. The Jerusalem Film Festival is held annually, screening Israeli and international films.
The Ticho House, in downtown Jerusalem, houses the paintings of Anna Ticho and the Judaica collections of her husband, an ophthalmologist who opened Jerusalem's first eye clinic in this building in 1912. Al Hoash, established in 2004, is a gallery for the preservation of Palestinian art.
Besides being a center for Jewish Israeli culture, Jerusalem is a capital of Arab culture. Jerusalem was selected by UNESCO as the 2009 Capital of Arab Culture. Jerusalem is home to the Palestinian National Theatre, which engages in cultural preservation as well as innovation, working to upgrade and rekindle interest in the arts at the national level.The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music is headquartered in Jerusalem. The conservatory sponsors the Palestine Youth Orchestra, which has achieved acclaim throughout the Arab world  in 2009, the orchestra, which includes Arab musicians from Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Israel, and Arabs living in the Palestinian diaspora toured the Gulf states and other Middle East countries.
The Islamic Museum on the Temple Mount, established in 1923, houses many Islamic artifacts, from tiny kohl flasks and rare manuscripts to giant marble columns.
While Israeli authorities approve and even support some Arab cultural activities, restrictions often make expansion of Jerusalem Arab culture difficult. Israeli authorities forbade festivities marking the selection of Jerusalem as the Arab Capital of Culture, because they were sponsored by the Palestine National Authority, which Israel claims has no jurisdiction in Jerusalem.Israeli border restrictions make it difficult for music teachers and artists to move freely between Jerusalem and cultural centers in the West Bank.Nevertheless, a four day culture fest did take place in the Beit Anan suburb of Jerusalem in 2009, attended by more than 15,000 people
Jerusalem is also a center for Israeli Palestinian cultural cooperation. Several organizations, including the Abraham Fund and the Jerusalem Intercultural Center (JICC) actively promote joint Jewish Palestinian cultural projects. The Jerusalem Center for Middle Eastern Music and Dance offers courses and performances by Arab and Jewish students and artists. The JICC offers workshops on Jewish-Arab dialogue through the arts.The Jewish Arab Youth Orchestra meets in Jerusalem, and performs both European classical and Middle Eastern music.
A Tolerance Monument sculpted by Czeslaw Dzwigaj in collaboration with Michal Kubiak is situated on a hill marking the divide between Jewish Armon Hanatziv and Arab Jebl Mukaber, standing opposite the United Nations headquarters in Jerusalem in a park near Goldman Promenade. Unveiled in Jerusalem in 2008, it was funded by Polish businessman Aleksander Gudzowaty as a symbol to promote peace in the Israeli Palestinian conflict.