Top Museums In Jerusalem

Jerusalem is one of the most antique cities in the world, and it is a place rich in history and culture like not any other city. Its unicity also relies on the fact that its history dates back to five thousand years ago. It had been inhabited for a short or long time by many civilisations. Still, nowadays, Jerusalem is a central place for the three greatest monotheistic religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism, and pilgrims visit this fantastic city from all over the world. The city of Jerusalem and its citizens carry the city’s historical heritage, preserving their tales and legends in the several world-class museums of the city, from the huge Israel Museum to the more specific Bible Lands Museum, the Islamic Art Museum and many others. Jerusalem is crowded with high-class museums, most of which organise guided tours in English and other languages. Many of the major museums are gathered in the neighbourhood of Givat Ram, and they are well-known as the Museum Row, so it’s the first group of museums that every visitor should tour before going to visit other museums of Jerusalem. Below there is a list of the most renowned and important museums of Jerusalem.

1. The Israel Museum is at 11 Derech Ruppin Street in Givat Ram, and it has the most extensive Egyptian collection of historical artefacts after the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. This museum is a treasure chest with a countless amount of archaeology, ancient and modern art, ethnography, Jewish history, including two of the most important archaeological discoveries in the Middle East: the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Aleppo Codex. Besides the permanent and temporary unique exhibitions, the Israel Museum is also a cultural centre where lectures, programs, activities for children, and festivals occur. Hence, it is very suggested to ensure to dedicate at least a day to the Israel Museum, which is considered one of the top ten museums in the world, to accurately explore its vast collection of art, archaeological findings and Judaica. One of the most important landmarks of the Museum and in general of the city of Jerusalem’s is the Shrine of the Book, which conserves many ancient manuscripts, including the Dead Sea Scrolls. Other important landmarks include the Fine Arts Wing, Archaeology Wing, Youth Wing, and the model of Jerusalem in the Second Temple period.
2. The Bible Lands Museum is at 21 Shmuel Stephan Weiz Street, and it is specifically dedicated to the historical chronicles of the biblical period of the Jerusalem area starting from the time of the Canaanite domination until the time of the Second Temple, also giving information about the daily lives of the people of these periods. The permanent exhibitions focus on rare and outstanding artefacts such as housewares, jewellery and clothes. Whilst the special collections are often dedicated to notable historical events.
3. The Bloomfield Science Museum is Sderot Hamuzeonim, Givat Ram, in the Museum row, and it is close to the Knesset and the government buildings. It is a beautiful place for families, and it also hosts interactive exhibitions and displays for children and adults, focusing on science and technology. The Bloomfield Science Museum is a museum that combines fun and education.
4. The Museum of Islamic Art is located at 2 Hapalmach Street in the neighbourhood of Katamon, close to the Jerusalem Theater. This museum is dedicated to Islamic art with nine galleries, which had been ordered chronologically. Indeed, the Museum of Islamic Art features a unique and extensive collection of art artefacts, gold and silver objects, jewellery, musical instruments, ceramics, scientific tools, exquisite calligraphy, extraordinary glassware, copper, metal, wood and ivory artefacts, and much more.
5. The Natural History Museum is located at 10 Hamagid Street, and it is inside a 19th-century building in the German Colony neighbourhood, not far from Emek Refaim Street. This museum intends to educate the public about topics related to nature and the environment. The Museum hosts a mixture of exhibitions and organises guided tours, workshops, summer trips and nature classes, available by reservation only.
6. The Menachem Begin Heritage Center Museum is located at 6 Sh.A. Nachon Street, and it faces the walls of the Old City, the Hinnom Valley. The purpose of this museum is to commemorate the life and works of Menachem Begin, who was one of the notable figures of the modern State of Israel. The museum offers a beautiful and exciting tour of the various period of life of Begin. Moreover, the Center has an incredible archive, library and current research devoted to Menachem Begin. The Center’sCenter’s restaurant offers Italian food and a charming view of the Old City.
7. The U. Nahon Museum Of Italian Jewish Art is located at 27 Hillel Street in Jerusalem, in the heart of downtown Jerusalem. The museum hosts a permanent exhibition of artefacts on times of Jewish life in Italy, featuring rotating exhibits regarding the Italian Jewish communities. The Museum’s foremost attraction is its magnificent synagogue, which was carried entirely from the town of Conegliano in Italy, and where now also Italian-style services take place.
8. Ticho House is at 9 Harav Kook Street, and it is located at only five minutes walk from the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall. Ticho House is an art gallery and museum under the management of the Israel Museum. This museum displays the works of Israeli artist Anna Ticho, the Judaica collections of her husband, a library and touring exhibitions.
9. Rabbi Kook House is located at 9 Harav Kook Street, in Jerusalem. It is a small museum in downtown Jerusalem that is established in the building where the well-known Rabbi Kook resided. Additionally, the museum displays how the rabbi and his family lived, with a mikveh, i.e. a ritual bath, a synagogue and the rabbi’s private rooms. Rabbi Kook or Rav Kook was the first chief rabbi of the Jewish community during the British Mandate period, and he was one of the first rabbis to blend modern Zionism with a theological world outlook. The museum also displays a movie about the Rabbi’s life, and it hosts an extensive library. Moreover, in the museum, classes about his teachings take place for the general public.
10. The Museum of Psalms in Rabbi Kook House has a permanent exhibition of artworks by Israeli artist Moshe Tzvi Berger. On display, there are the famous Psalms set, a selection of 150 paintings, which show a picturesque visual representation of every religious verse of King David.
11. The Heichal Shlomo Museum is located at 58 King George Street, close to Jerusalem’s Great Synagogue on King George Street. The Heichal Shlomo Museum hosts a museum of Jewish ritual art, a big auditorium, and the Renanim Synagogue, which has artefacts from 18th-century Italy.
12. The Museum Of Underground Prisoners was the central prison in the Russian Compound in Jerusalem centre. During the British Mandate of the Holy Land, hundreds of prisoners were imprisoned in this structure. Many of these prisoners were members of the Jewish resistance. Throughout the 1948 War of Independence, the prison was seized by Jewish fighters. The museum’s exhibitions include the prison cells and the prison terrains full of memories and stories from the pre-state period.
13. The Tower Of David Museum is at Jaffa Gate, in Jerusalem’s Old City. It is located on the ruins of the fortification that King David built during the second century BC. This fortress was erected to strengthen a weak location of the city of Jerusalem. During the following centuries, the tower was demolished and restored many times. The Museum show Jerusalem’s history, and it sometimes hosts not permanent exhibitions, diverse projects for all ages and a splendid view of Jerusalem on top of the ramparts.
14. The Old Yishuv Court Museum is located at 6 Or Hayim Street, and it is an ethnographic museum in the centre of the Old City’s Jewish Quarter, exhibiting the lifestyle of the Holy Land’s different Jewish communities during the past 500 years until 1948. The Museum displays clothes, furniture and also a birthing bed, and it hosts two ancient synagogues.
15. The Last Battle For The Old City Museum is at Cardo Street, in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The museum displays the historical happenings of May 1948 when Jewish inhabitants were expelled from the Old City. The events are described by the British photojournalist John Phillips, who lived in the Old City in that period and followed the Jordanian soldiers as they advanced against the Jewish resistance. The Museum also offers the opportunity to watch a five-minute-long silent documentary film from the time of the seizure.
16. The Burnt House – Katros House is at 2 Hakaraim Street, and it is considered to have been owned by a wealthy family by the name of Katres. After that, this house had been burnt when the Roman armies assailed Jerusalem in 70 CE. After the Six-Day War, Israeli archaeologists revealed the house beneath a coat of ashes, six meters below street level. In the museum, there is also a collection of artefacts dating back to the Second-Temple period. Additionally, it is possible to watch a movie about the story of this legendary house.
17. The Wohl Archaeological Museum is at Hakaraim St in Jerusalem Old City and the Burnt House. It hosts a collection of relics of Jewish residences dating back to Herod’s time (37-4 BC). It includes frescoes, glassware, pottery, stone cisterns used as ritual baths, i.e. mikvaot, and a mosaic floor coated with burnt wood.
18. The Roman Square Museum is located at Damascus Gate, and it is dedicated to the history of Damascus Gate City. This museum exhibits remnants of a Roman square and a gate dating back nearly 2,000 years ago. Amongst the objects in the exhibition, there are the two guard towers that have been built with stone used in Second-Temple period buildings. One of them is open to the public, and it is connected to the Ramparts Walk at the top of the Old City walls.
19. The Rockefeller Archaeological Museum is located at 27 Sultan Suliman Street, and it is a splendid building, which hosts a magnificent collection of authentic historical artefacts discovered in Israel during the British Mandate period. The Rockefeller Archaeological Museum is a testimonial of the prosperity of civilisations that were essential in the history and prehistory of the holy land of Israel.
20. The Yad Vashem is at Har Hazikaron, at the foot of Mount Herzl, and it commemorates the massive murder of six million Jews by the Nazis and their allies. The most striking monument of Yad Vashem is the Children’s Memorial, a dark and hollowed underground cavern where innumerable candles are reflected endlessly in a set of mirrors, giving the impression of millions of shining stars. In the setting, a voice reads out the names and countries of origin of 1.5 million murdered Jewish children. Yad Vashem also has a special section dedicated to the Righteous Among the Nations, non-Jews who risked their lives to rescue Jews. A moving experience, Yad Vashem is one of the landmarks of Jerusalem that must be visited by everyone touring Israel.
21. The Herzl Museum is located at the entrance of Mount Herzl, close to the grave of Herzl and other notable graves of Israeli leaders. This museum shows the details of the life and works of Herzl, who was the founder of modern Zionism. The Herzl Museum has interactive sections, where audio-visual presentations are on display, portraying Herzl’s theory and thoughts.