As promised I would like to share with you the top Tel Aviv museums based on my personal experiences and those of trusted locals.
Tel Aviv Museums – Eretz Israel Museum
First on my list is the Eretz Israel Museum which my wife Karen and I just visited a few short weeks ago. It is located in Northern Tel Aviv in the upscale Ramat Aviv neighborhood with a fantastic view of the city. The museum campus is actually set upon an archeological site that is still under excavation, originally containing a Philistine port city and remains of three separate temples from around 1000 BCE.
The museum consists of eight pavilions/buildings covering vastly different topics such as the Glass pavilion with one of the finest collections of glassware in the world, the Nehushtan Pavilion with the greatest excavations from the copper of mines of Timna, the Ceramics Pavilion with ancient Canaanite pottery, and more.
I would have to say that my favorite was the Rothschild Center; a modern structure dedicated to the late Baron Edmond James de Rothschild and his family. It is an interactive biography of this great man and his endeavor in developing Jewish settlements in what was then Palestine, from 1882 until his death in 1934. He is entombed with his wife in the famous Ramat Hanadiv Gardens near Zichron Yaakhov where I live. See Zichron Day Trip.
For more information visit the museum website at http://www.eretzmuseum.org.il/
The Museum of Art in Tel Aviv, recently renovated, contains one of the greatest collections of modern Israeli and International art in the world. It includes impressionistic and post impressionistic works. Permanent displays include the works of Chagall, Cezanne, Monet, Dali, Auguste Rodin, Henri Moore, Archipenko, and Picasso.
For more information, see the museum’s website at http://www.tamuseum.org.il/
More Top Tel Aviv Museums
- The Haganah museum chronicles the formation of the Haganah, which was essentially the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) before Israel became a State. This museum was just recently renovated in a new multimedia format following a fictional character names Itzik as he escapes from the ghettos in Eastern Europe to his emigration to Israel as a young Haganah soldier and eventual war hero.
- The Diaspora Museum or Beit Hatfutsot, also located in Ramat Aviv, this museum chronicles Jewish life during the times of the Diaspora from 596 BCE to present day. It contains a display of synagogue models depicting how these buildings were adapted to the local architecture of their period, as well as, multimedia and short films. Especially of interest to many English speaking tourists is the Chronosphere offering English only multimedia presentations. There is also a Genealogy department tracing the family trees of Jews who have registered.
More about Israel Museums from Israel Travel Secrets.
Museums in Tel Aviv ( Muze’onim b’ Tel Aviv in Hebrew)
Bruce
