Jerusalem Museums Travel Tips - Packages/Deals & Travel Agents Near Me

Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel, served as the country’s cultural and economic center for centuries. The city has numerous art, archeological and historical museums and the streets and parks of Jerusalem are full of art and sculpture.

The Israel Museum
The Israel Museum is the largest and most important art
museum in the country. Its numerous wings are devoted to archeology, Judaica, historical artifacts, 20th century art, Impressionist art and a youth wing. The sculpture gardens and galleries display exhibitions from Israel and abroad.

A special, separate wing known as the Shrine of the Book is the home of the legendary Dead Sea Scrolls. The white building has a dome-shaped roof shaped like the lids of the clay containers in which the scrolls were found. Adjacent, is the “Holyland” model of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.

The museum is too large for most visitors to cover all the wings and exhibitions in a single visit. We suggest visitors check on what exhibits are in progress and plan a route in the museum to cover areas of greatest interest to you.

Electronic recorded guides are available at the entrance to the museum in Hebrew, English, and Russian. The museum also offers scheduled daily guided tours free of charge in Hebrew and English, twice a week in French, and once a week in Spanish.

The Bible Lands Museum
The Bible Lands Museum is located near the Israel Museum. Its exhibits include a large collection of archeological artifacts that open a doorway to ancient Mid-Eastern cultures. Using maps, sketches, Biblical quotations and priceless exhibits, the museum illustrates the ties between the various peoples of the region, visitors are led along a time line beginning in Biblical times and ending in our modern era.  The museum also has a spacious garden with trees and plants that are mentioned in the Bible.

The Tower of David Museum
At the Tower of David Museum, not only do the captivating exhibits deepen your understanding of Jerusalem, its very stones are part of this city’s living history. Each ancient room has been revamped to showcase a different period, allowing the tempestuous events of 4,000 years to fall perfectly into place in your mind. With each doorway you exit, you look down into the citadel’s central courtyard, where archaeologists have unearthed remains dating from the Maccabees to the Middle Ages.  The museum also utilizes its unique space for multi-sensory exhibits by leading designers and artists from Israel and abroad, and for memorable private functions.

Ticho House
A small museum located in the center of the city,  Ticho House is a separate branch of the Israel Museum. The house was built in 1868 and purchased in the 1920’s by a Vienna-born ophthalmologist named Avraham Albert Ticho and his wife, Anna. The first floor served as a clinic and the couple resided upstairs. Anna Ticho studied art in Vienna and her work captured the faces, moods and vistas of early 20th-century Jerusalem.  In 1980, she was awarded the Israel Prize for her art work. After her death, the house was converted to a museum with a permanent exhibition of her paintings, Hanukkah menorahs from Dr. Ticho's collection, an extensive library, gift shop, and coffeehouse. The house and garden are also used for concerts and receptions.

The Jerusalem Artists' House
This museum, located in a 19th-century stone building, was the original site of the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts. It hosts temporary exhibits of Israeli artists.

Islamic Arts Museum
The Islamic Arts Museum is located near the Jerusalem Theater, and is considered one of the world’s finest museums of Islamic art. The museum displays Islamic art from the 7th century to modern times, with artifacts from Israel, Egypt , Syria , Iraq , Turkey , India , Afghanistan, Spain and Iran . The permanent and temporary exhibits include rich collections of pottery, glass, and metal work, ritual artifacts, jewelry, paintings, and tapestries.  The museum also holds creativity workshops, plays and performances for children during school vacations. Guided tours are available in Hebrew, English and Arabic.

Museum on the Seam
The Museum on the Seam sits atop the barbed-wire frontier that divided Israeli from Jordanian Jerusalem from 1948 to 1967. Formerly known as the Tourgeman House, its bullet holes are witness to former conflict. It became a municipal museum in 2000. The museum presents the events of the past through multimedia, photography, art exhibits and video, placing emphasis on co-existence and tolerance.

The Rockefeller Museum
The Rockefeller Museum, one of the first buildings built outside the walls of the Old City,  is a branch of the Israel Museum. Its exhibits are mostly archeology, but visitors also come to admire the beautiful building itself. Originally built in the 17th century as a private home, it was in 1906 that the Jewish National Fund sought to purchase the compound for Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts. In 1919 the administration of the new British Mandate designated the site as an archeological museum.