# The Color: Purple | A Journey to Discover Tel Shikmona and the Secrets of Purple > Haifa Events **Category:** community ## Description The Spring 2026 exhibition cluster focuses on the Tel Shikmona site and the production of purple dye from sea snails — an activity that took place there in antiquity. The cluster includes a new historical-archaeological exhibition dedicated to the production of purple and blue dyes. It also includes art exhibitions responding to the tell's extraordinary presence in the urban landscape and to the traces of lost time embedded within it. These exhibitions join the exhibition 'Tel HaDagim' (Fish Mound), which presents findings discovered at the site attesting to an especially long sequence of settlement — from the Late Bronze Age to the end of the Byzantine period. A new signage and accessibility project at Tel Shikmona, led by the Nature and Parks Authority, will give the general public an opportunity to return to and delve deeper into the site's fascinating story. The Secrets of Purple and Sea-like Blue — two new time capsules offer an introduction to the production of purple and blue dyes in antiquity, at Tel Shikmona and throughout the Mediterranean. These displays reveal new and fascinating insights into the tell's importance as an exclusive production center for purple and blue dye during the days of the Kingdom of Israel (Iron Age). 'So Small, So Modest, I Float in the Sea' — a solo exhibition by Haifa artist Maya Gertzfeld, created in connection with the finds from Tel Shikmona displayed in the museum, the remains in its surroundings, and the history of the archaeological excavations at the site. The exhibition examines the lost traces of the craft of producing prestigious purple dye from the bodies of sea snails, alongside other ancient crafts. The exhibition was created as part of an artist-in-residence program at the museum, in collaboration with the Leon Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa. The Tell and I — a group art exhibition featuring works that examine the tell as a unique phenomenon of urban nature, as an archaeological site within a city's boundaries, and as a center for dye and textile production in the distant past. The exhibition includes works responding directly to the experience of wandering and lingering at the tell, alongside works connected to the coastal environment, its color and light. More abstractly, some of the works relate to the unique range of colors spanning from blue to purple. Adi Shelach Curator, National Maritime Museum **Date:** 2026-06-11 **City:** Haifa **Tickets:** https://www.haifa.muni.il/event/%d7%94%d7%a6%d7%91%d7%a2-%d7%90%d7%a8%d7%92%d7%9e%d7%9f-%d7%9e%d7%a1%d7%a2-%d7%9c%d7%92%d7%99%d7%9c%d7%95%d7%99-%d7%aa%d7%9c-%d7%a9%d7%a7%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%a0%d7%94-%d7%95%d7%a1%d7%95%d7%93%d7%95/ **Image:** https://pub-0a891185c33b4c5a8db7ede117f7c8e7.r2.dev/haifa-events/haifa_municipality/13db3f8cd8cd1753090e376854717969.jpg --- **Canonical event page:** https://www.haifa.events/en/event/tsvet-purpur-puteshestvie-k-otkrytiyu-tel-shikmony-i-taynam-purpura/ **Other languages:** https://www.haifa.events/he/event/tsvet-purpur-puteshestvie-k-otkrytiyu-tel-shikmony-i-taynam-purpura/, https://www.haifa.events/ru/event/tsvet-purpur-puteshestvie-k-otkrytiyu-tel-shikmony-i-taynam-purpura/ Haifa Events is an aggregator. Verify the date, price, and ticket availability on the official website before purchase.