You’ll be amazed when you come upon this large hidden oasis with its gardens and terrace restaurant/cafe right in the center of downtown West Jerusalem — it’s especially wonderful for outdoor dining in summer. Loved by Jerusalemites, both for its beauty and its history (and also as a meeting place), Ticho House was built in 1880 as a private villa for the Aga Rashid Nashishibi. Later it became the home of artist Anna Ticho and her husband, Dr. Abraham Ticho, a legendary ophthalmologist who maintained his surgery there.
The building is now a downtown branch of the Israel Museum, complete with a handy museum gift shop. There’s a permanent exhibit of Anna Ticho’s controlled, powerful charcoals and drawings, as well as visiting exhibitions arranged by the museum. Upstairs, Dr. Ticho’s consulting office is preserved, filled with his international collection of antique Chanukah lamps.
Especially moving are the notes to Dr. Ticho, preserved under glass on his desk, from members of the Arab, Jewish, and British communities after he was seriously wounded during the political unrest of 1929. Ticho House hosts poetry and fiction readings, intimate theater and music performances, and a Friday morning concert series.