Museums, Israel

The Israel Museum, Jerusalem is Israel’s largest cultural institution and is ranked among the world’s leading art and archeology museums. Founded in 1965, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem was extensively extended and refurbished reopening in 2010. The focus of the museum is on the art, Judaica and ancient artifacts of the Land of Israel and beyond, featuring the most extensive holdings of Biblical and Holy Land archaeology in the world. The museum has a collection of nearly 500,000 objects, representing a full scope of world material culture. While there is loads to see at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, there are a number of stand-out highlights. The Shrine of the Book houses the Dead Sea Scrolls which are some of the oldest Biblical scrolls ever found. Adjacent to this is an amazing model of Second Temple Era Jerusalem which reconstructs the topography and architectural character of the city as it was prior to its destruction by the Romans in 66 CE. https://www.touristisrael.com/the-israel-museum-jerusalem/411/

The Tower of David Museum of the History of Jerusalem is located in the restored ancient Citadel of the Old City near the Jaffa Gate, the historic main entrance to the city. The museum tells the long and fascinating history of Jerusalem starting from the second millennium BCE and ending with the modern city you see today. The museum’s facade, The Citadel is itself, a fascinating archaeological site, and provides some of the best 360-degree views across the Old City and Modern City available, and comes to life at night with the Tower of David Night Spectacular. As well as its fascinating permanent displays, the museum regularly hosts changing exhibitions as well as lectures, special cultural events and educational programs. The Tower of David Night Spectacular is an incredible sound and light show, the only one of its kind in the world, in which the walls of The Citadel and Old City are brought to life using amazing audio-visual technologies to provide the story of Jerusalem in a unique experience. https://www.touristisrael.com/tower-of-david-museum/413/

Yad Vashem, Israel’s largest Holocaust memorial is set on the slopes of the Mount of Remembrance on the edge of Jerusalem. The new Yad Vashem Museum opened in 2005 and its nine chilling galleries of interactive historical displays present the Holocaust using a range of multimedia including photographs, films, documents, letters, works of art, and personal items found in the camps and ghettos. Yad Vashem is a place which is not fun to visit, but is definitely somewhere that we recommend all visitors to Israel experience. The museum leads into the Hall of Names, an eerie space containing over three million names of Holocaust victims that were submitted by their families and relatives. Names can still be submitted by visitors to the memorial and added to the computerized archive, whilst visitors are able to search through the records. In addition to the Holocaust History Museum, the Yad Vashem campus has a number of other chilling memorials which you can visit. These include the Hall of Remembrance, where the ashes of the dead are buried and an eternal flame burns in commemoration; Yad Layeled, the children’s memorial, which commemorates the one and a half million Jewish children who perished in the Holocaust; and The Memorial to the Deportees, a railroad car hanging over the cliff on the road winding down from the mountain commerorating those who were deported. https://www.touristisrael.com/yad-vashem-holocaust-museum/409/

Beit Hatfutsot' - The Museum of the Jewish People (The Disapora House), the Nahum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish Diaspora, is located on the campus of Tel Aviv University. The Museum of the Jewish People tells the story of the Jewish People from its expulsion from the holy land 2,600 years ago to the present day. The Museum of the Jewish People exhibits the diverse histories of the many Jewish communities around the world. It connects visitors with their roots, offers reproductions of beautifully designed synagogues, pictures depicting the differing religious customs and cultural traditions of various communities, and describes the complex and ongoing journey of the Jewish people “Among the Nations.” http://www.bookingisrael.com/israel-attractions/disapora-museum

The Tel Aviv Museum of Art houses one of the world’s largest collections of Israeli art. The collection represents the work of some of the leading Jewish artists of the first half of the 20th century and many of the major movements of modern art of this time. The modern and contemporary art museum is a part of the Golda Meir Cultural and Art Center complex, also featuring the Israeli Opera and Cameri Theater. The permanent and temporary exhibitions shown at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art display work by Israeli artists, as well as many infamous international painters. The museum is also home to an art library and archive serving art students and professionals throughout Israel. The Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Art Education Center provides classes in a variety of fields to adults and children. The Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art offers a space to showcase young Israeli talent. The Herta and Paul Amir Building houses an Israeli Architecture Archive and a new section of photography and visual arts. Over 500,000 guests visit the Tel Aviv Museum of Art each year, to enjoy its wide variety of painting, photography, video, sculpture, as well as to participate in the many events held within the museum building. The Tel Aviv Museum of Art is open daily from 10 am. The museum closes at 4 pm on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, 8 pm on Tuesday and Thursday, and 2 pm on Friday. The museum is closed on Sunday. Museum admission is 42 shekels for adult visitors and free for children up to age 18. http://www.bookingisrael.com/israel-attractions/tel-aviv-museum-of-art

The Rubin Museum in Tel Aviv is located in the center of the city, in what once served as home and studio of world-renowned painter, Reuven Rubin. Reuven Rubin was the first Israeli painter to receive international acknowledgement and appreciation. Born in Romania, Rubin moved to Israel in 1912 to study painting at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Art. He continued his studies in Paris before setting up his studio and officially immigrating to Israel in 1923. Over the course of his career, Rubin was named Chairman of the Association of Painters and Sculptors of Palestine, received the Dizengoff Prize and, in 1973 was awarded the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement in art. Rubin died in 1974, leaving his home and studio to his beloved city of Tel Aviv. On display at the museum are close to fifty of Rubin’s paintings created throughout his career in Israel. The museum features multimedia presentations about the artist’s life and work. The Rubin Museum in Tel Aviv also features paintings by contemporary Israeli artists, a shop with reproductions of the artist’s work, and a tour of Rubin’s studio. http://www.bookingisrael.com/israel-attractions/rubin-museum

The Madatech National Science, Technology and Space Museum in Haifa, is a large museum crammed with hands-on activities that will please both adults and children. Not far from the Bahai Gardens, in the Hadar neighbourhood of Haifa, the museum is housed in the large edifice which is the old Technion building. The Madatech building was built in the early 1910s, visited by Albert Einstein in 1923 and then made into a museum in 1984. Today the museum hosts some 200,000 visitors annually, many of them children on school trips. The Madatech National Science, Technology and Space Museum can be broken up into five parts for mapping out. The ground floor of the main building contains the front desk, a café, a children’s play area, a gift store and several exhibits such as the history of the printing press and The Road to Safety Exhibition. In the Road to Safety Exhibition children and adults can sit side-by-side on crash simulator, operated only by a museum guide, which proves the need for seatbelts while driving. Be prepared, the crash is quite a jolt! Continuing up a narrow staircase (elevators are also on-site), the first floor comes to view. On the first floor are exhibitions such as the Natural Science Room with over 100 stuffed animals and birds all found in the Haifa area including eagles, mongooses and jungle cats. Other exhibitions include Puzzles & Games, Green Energy and Acoustics & Waves, all going into depths with hands-on displays and tools for everybody to benefit from. In the Green Energy exhibition children can learn about combustion, solar power and light power, many of the displays featuring little lights that illuminate with the power generated at the display. Children can also race sailboats on a table with fans, mapping out wind currents with guided lines on the table. Also on the first floor is the Einstein Hall where an exhibition was made in honour of Ilan Ramon, Israel’s first and only astronaut. Included in the exhibit are some of his personal belongings found at the crash site of the Columbia space shuttle that tragically crashed on descent over Texas. https://www.touristisrael.com/madatech-science-technology-museum-haifa/5294/

Just above the Bat Galim Promenade, at the foot of Mount Carmel in the city of Haifa, is the Clandestine Immigration and Navy Museum. A large museum with many hands-on exhibits including two retired ships and a submarine on display and open for exploring, the museum is operated by the Israeli Navy and Ministry of Defence so don’t be surprised to find the front door locked – the guards will open it for you and ask for identification. Once inside, a short video presentation is shown giving a brief overview of the Israeli Navy’s history and then the large collection of both clandestine immigration and naval maps, photographs, articles and souvenirs can be browsed. Also, for those interested, a database of war medal and decoration recipients is available behind the guard’s booth. n the main room, the “History of the Navy” exhibit, learn about the Battle of Tel Aviv where the Israeli Navy’s first warship, the INS Eilat – originally a icebreaker for the Canadian Navy and then the US Coast Guard, intercepted a group of Egyptian ships in June 1948 with just a few machine guns and a dummy wood cannon. Read about Operation “Pirate” and the 1953 Assistance to Greek Earthquake Victims exhibit, with a life-size dummy dressed in a 1950s commando diving suit completed with weaponry. Look at the pictures of Squadron 788 and their twenty-year stint as guardians of the Sea of Galilee – constantly under fire from Syrian MiG fighter jets and artillery. Learn the amazing story of the capturing of the Egyptian warship Ibrahim El Awell by the Israeli Navy and how it was turned into the INS Haifa. Be mystified at the tale of the Israeli Naval submarine INS Dakar and its disappearance in the Mediterranean Sea in 1968, only to be found in 1999 with the help of the US Navy and modern technology. https://www.touristisrael.com/clandestine-immigration-and-navy-museum-haifa/5072/

The Haifa City Museum is located in the Haifa’s German Colony, at the foot of the famous Baha’i Gardens. Celebrating Haifa’s rich cinematic past, the museum was created within an old Templar Community House originally built in 1869 and recently restored in 2000. Within the museum’s old walls visitors can be taken back to the the age of the silver screen and the years that followed. The Haifa City Museum can be enjoyed by anyone, from film buffs to wide-eyed toddlers with no understanding of the cinematic legends such as Clark Gable, Alfred Hitchcock and Marilyn Monroe. With full blueprints of Haifa’s historical movie-houses, letters on official movie-house letterheads and even opening night invitations in “The Palaces of Haifa” exhibition, you too can be transported back to the time where glamour and fame cycled around the movie industry. A special curtained-off area of the museum’s first floor holds a screen and projector where you can sit and watch old film trailers and old Israeli pre-movie advertisements. Also on display are old film reels and a photo collection donated by a local resident featuring Hollywood’s stars of yesteryear such as Gregory Peck, James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich. Largely featured in the Armon Theatre which was established in the Haifa’s Downtown area, not far from the German Colony, in the year 1935. The original theatre had 1800 seats and an electric removable roof for pleasant summer evenings. On opening night, the Armon Theatre showed “The Merry Widow”, an Oscar-winning musical comedy. The theatre met its demise with its closing in the late 80s and was eventually torn down. https://www.touristisrael.com/haifa-city-museum/5537/

The Atlit Detainee Camp Museum is located in Atlit, a small town located on the northern coast about 20 kilometers south of Haifa. In the 1930s and 40s, this site served as a detention center for illegal Jewish immigrants seeking refuge in Palestine (which is now the State of Israel). The land was under British Mandate and officials let very few Jewish people into the country legally. Tens of thousands of Jewish people were interned here during this time period. Although first-time visitors may not be familiar with this museum, it is very significant site in the history of Israel. Illegal immigrants are known as “ma’apilim”. Before and during World War II, thousands of Jewish people were fleeing their homes trying to escape persecution and concentration camps. Many coming from Europe and northern Africa chose to seek refuge in Palestine, which was under British Mandate. More than 122,000 people came to Israel despite the blockade. https://www.touristisrael.com/atlit-detainee-camp-museum/16177/