Eretz Israel Museum

The Eretz Israel Museum occupies a roughly 20-acre campus in the Ramat Aviv area of northern Tel Aviv, adjacent to the Yarkon River.[1][2] Its address is 2 Haim Levanon Street, a site that was on the northern edge of the city when the museum first opened.[3][4] The museum is recognized as one of Tel Aviv's — and Israel's — three largest museums, alongside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and the Diaspora Museum.[5][1]

The campus comprises approximately fifteen buildings and other installations, and its collections hold hundreds of thousands of objects, including rare items.[1] Ten permanent exhibitions draw visitors year-round, and the museum presents roughly twenty temporary exhibitions annually, alongside symposiums, lectures, meetings with curators and scholars, and public events.[1] Facilities on the grounds include a planetarium, lecture halls, workshops, a cafeteria, and a gift shop.[1] The museum also operates performance spaces and a theater.[2]

The pavilion-and-garden layout was inspired by the European Landesmuseum model, and the original buildings were designed by architect Werner Joseph Wittkower.[2] This campus design allows visitors to move between enclosed exhibition spaces and open-air archaeological and botanical displays, giving the site an outdoor-museum quality unusual among urban Israeli cultural institutions.

The museum's origins lie with Dr. Walter Moses, a Jewish industrialist of German origin born in Berlin in 1892 who immigrated to Israel in 1926.[2] Moses collected antiquities and books on art, history, and archaeology, with a particular focus on antique and rare glass vessels that, in his view, reflected the region's multicultural character and offered a basis for the future culture of the State of Israel.[2] He kept his glass collection in his apartment on Bograshov Street and added archaeological objects acquired in the Land of Israel and elsewhere.[4]

In December 1952, Moses and the Tel Aviv Municipality signed an agreement transferring rights to his collection — then valued at more than one million dollars — to the city and its residents, on the condition that the municipality establish a museum to house it and open it to the public.[2] Moses died suddenly in 1955, before the museum was realized.[2] His will specified the institution's name and vision: it was to be a cultural and academic institution of international standing in Tel Aviv, promoting education for adults and children and making archaeology and folklore essential parts of contemporary culture.[2] Moses appointed Israel Rokach and Felix Rosenberg (Pinhas Rosen) as executors.[4]

The museum's English-language history page dates its founding to 1958, while its Hebrew-language page gives May 1959.[2][6] It was first called Muzeon Ha-Aretz, or the Haaretz Museum, and was opened by Israel Rokach, who had served as Tel Aviv's mayor from 1936 to 1953.[4][2] The museum was renamed Eretz Israel Museum in 1983 and rebranded "MUZA – Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv" in 2015.[2][6]

Pavilions opened progressively over subsequent decades. The Glass Pavilion opened in 1959, followed by the Numismatics Pavilion in 1962, the Ethnography and Folklore Pavilion in 1963, the Ceramics Pavilion in 1966, and the "Man and His World" Center in 1982.[4] The Timna archaeological pavilion, also called the copper pavilion, opened in 1983 following excavations led by Beno Rothenberg.[4] The Alexander Pavilion on postal history and stamps opened in 1998, and the Rothschild Pavilion for temporary exhibitions in 2006.[4] The museum was founded with a stated aim of telling the story of Israel and presenting its culture as a scientific museum, and a later phase of its development emphasized multidisciplinary engagement with local material culture, including through the establishment of the Tel Aviv Biennale of Arts and Design.[7]

The museum attracts visitors of all ages from across Israel and abroad.[2] During Ami Katz's seven years as director general, annual attendance rose from 200,000 to 500,000.[8] Its public reach extends beyond ticketed galleries: the institution operates performance spaces, a theater, and a planetarium, while the Mandel Orchard was planned with five public gates and free daytime access.[9][2]

The museum presents approximately twenty temporary exhibitions each year, spanning subjects related to Israel's history, material culture, art, and design.[1] These exhibitions often engage the permanent collections in new ways, pairing contemporary creators with historical objects from the museum's holdings.

The 2014 exhibition "Woven Consciousness: Contemporary Textile in Israel," curated by Irena Gordon, brought together textile designers, visual artists, and multidisciplinary creators and was described as presenting contemporary textile work in Israel on a first-of-its-kind scale.[10] The display considered textile's social, political, and cultural dimensions, situating its development in relation to the collapse of the Israeli textile industry and the growth of independent designers and advanced textile studies.[10]

The 2011 Sixth Biennale for Israeli Ceramics, titled "Ceramic Design, Techno.logical Implements" and curated by Shlomit Bauman, was held at the museum in cooperation with the Association of Israeli Ceramic Artists; its catalogue was published in Hebrew and English.[11]

In 2013, the museum hosted the exhibition "At the Service of the High Commissioner," drawn from the archive of photographer Zvi Oron (Oroshkes), held at the Central Zionist Archives and comprising more than 17,000 photographs and 54,000 negatives.[3] The exhibition ran through August 30, 2013, and presented Oron's documentation of Palestine in the 1930s. Curator Michal Ben Tovim described selecting photographs for their narrative and aesthetic qualities, seeking an "authentic essence" and favoring candid images taken between official occasions over formal photographs.[3]

The museum has also developed the Tel Aviv Biennale of Arts and Design as an ongoing programmatic platform. The third biennale, titled "Acts and Days," included a central exhibition at the Rothschild Center, thirteen research projects in permanent pavilions pairing museum curators with contemporary creators, and four rotating academic incubators led by Shenkar, the Academic College of Management, the University of Haifa, and the Edmond de Rothschild Center; it featured more than 200 works by Israeli artists.[12]

The museum has established additional recurring public events, including a White Night event.[8] A July 2025 account separately reported that the annual number of temporary exhibitions had risen from five to twelve during Katz's tenure.[8] The museum also serves as a venue for institutional gatherings. In January 2016, the Institute for National Security Studies held its 9th Annual International Conference, "Changing Rules of the Game?," at the museum over January 17–19, with President Reuven Rivlin named as the honored presence and IDF Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot among the speakers.[13][14]

At the center of the museum grounds stands Tell Qasile, an ancient mound whose remains span more than 3,000 years.[2][15] The site lies within Tel Aviv at the mouth of the Yarkon River, which served as an inner harbor in antiquity, sheltered from Mediterranean waves; the settlement stood on a kurkar sandstone hill on the river's northern bank and at its height covered about four acres.[16]

Two potsherds bearing Hebrew inscriptions from the First Temple period were found on the tell's surface in the 1940s, drawing scholarly interest.[15] In 1948, the newly established State of Israel issued its first excavation permit for the site, making Tell Qasile the first archaeological site excavated in the modern state.[2][15] Excavations took place in 1948–1950 under Professor Benjamin Maisler (Mazar), resumed in 1971–1974, and continued intermittently through the early 1990s under Professor Amihai Mazar.[16][15]

Digging exposed twelve settlement layers and a sacred complex with three temples built one above another, preserving the sacred character of the location for approximately 200 years.[15][16] A Philistine residential quarter and sacred area dating to the Iron Age — specifically the twelfth through tenth centuries BCE — were uncovered, with houses arranged along streets and including courtyards and rooms used for living, work, and storage.[16] Assemblages of Philistine, Canaanite, and Israelite pottery have been interpreted as evidence of a mixed population in the eleventh century BCE.[16]

The third temple phase included a building measuring 14.5 by 8 meters, with two columns made of Cedar of Lebanon supporting the roof.[16] Finds included cultic stands and distinctive libation vessels, among them a hollow ring-shaped kernos and vessels shaped like fruit, a hippopotamus, and pomegranates.[16] The temples were constructed of sun-dried clay bricks covered in plaster, and scientific methods have also identified cinnamon used to flavor wine, imported cedar used for columns, and pigments used to decorate temple walls.[15] Ritual objects from the site, including a "Dancers cultic stand" and a libation vessel shaped as a woman with pierced breasts, are displayed in the museum's Ceramics Pavilion.[17]

An ostracon found at the site bears the Hebrew inscription "Ophir gold to Beth Horon, 30 shekels," with the destination possibly referring to the town of Beth Horon or to an otherwise unknown temple dedicated to Horon.[16] The coastal region was annexed to the Kingdom of Israel during Solomon's reign, and a public building at Tell Qasile may have served as a regional administrative center.[16] The Israelite-period town's destruction has been dated to 924 BCE and attributed to Pharaoh Shishak's campaign.[16]

The museum notes that the ancient inhabitants of Tell Qasile have not been definitively identified. One hypothesis associates the settlement with Philistine culture, based in part on pottery forms and decoration resembling Aegean and Cypriot traditions; the museum also presents the alternative possibility of a local population that adopted ideas and technologies from neighboring regions.[15] Connections between the temples' architecture and Canaanite temples, as well as temples in mainland Greece, Cyprus, and the Aegean islands, have been noted.[16]

The museum's collections span archaeology, Judaica, ethnography, photography, folklore, and local history, distributed across pavilions dedicated to distinct subjects.[18][2]

The Glass Pavilion, erected in 1959, was designed by W. J. Wittkower and E. W. Baumann and constructed with contributions from Louis M. Rabinowitz of New York through the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.[19] Set on a natural kurkar hill, its permanent display traces glassmaking across 3,000 years, from its origins in the ancient Near East to the decline of Islamic glass production around 1400 CE.[19] The pavilion presents objects including perfume and cosmetic containers, jewelry, inlays, and ornaments, alongside an account of production techniques such as core-forming, mold-casting, and lost-wax casting that preceded glassblowing.[19] The spread of glassblowing roughly two millennia ago made production faster, enabled a wider range of shapes and sizes, and helped make glass more accessible.[19]

Highlighted objects include a blue jug signed by the glassmaker Ennion, a rare two-opening drinking vessel known as a rhyton, and an approximately 1,400-year-old glass panel found at the Birds Mosaic Mansion in Caesarea Maritima.[19] The panel, on loan from the Israel Antiquities Authority, is made of gold-glass and mosaic-glass tiles decorated with eight-petalled rosettes and crosses and is believed to have been part of a ceremonial table.[19]

The Kadman Numismatic Pavilion, established at Leo Kadman's initiative and inaugurated in 1962, began with antique Greek and Jewish coins donated by Kadman.[20] The resulting collection is Israel's largest numismatic collection and one of the largest in the world, containing tens of thousands of items including coins, banknotes, bonds, weights, minting-related objects, medals, seal impressions, and books on coins.[20]

Its five sections follow forms of payment from before coinage to the present, with emphasis on the Land of Israel.[20] Displayed coins minted in the Land of Israel by Jewish authorities — or by non-Jewish authorities for Jews — span the fourth century BCE to the second century CE, including Hasmonean, Herodian, Jewish War, and Bar Kokhba Revolt coinage.[20] Modern Israeli coin motifs are mostly drawn from ancient Jewish coins.[20]

The Ceramics Pavilion, opened in 1966 and designed by the Wittkower-Baumann firm, arranges its display in seven sections covering ceramic origins, manufacturing and decoration, writing, ritual, archaeological interpretation, and a reconstructed Four-Room House of the type found at Tell Qasile.[17] Its holdings include Neolithic decorated pottery, Chalcolithic clay ossuaries, early Bronze Age vessels, Greek black- and red-figure pottery, and First Temple-period lamelekh handles.[17] A clay brick bearing the name and titles of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar is also displayed.[17]

The Ethnography and Folklore Pavilion is organized around the cycle of life, Torah scrolls and their decorations, and the annual cycle of Jewish holy days.[18]

The Alexander Pavilion of Postal History and Philately was inaugurated on May 19, 1998, during events marking the State of Israel's fiftieth anniversary. A joint initiative of the Israel Postal Authority, the Tel Aviv Foundation, and the museum, it was designed by architect Zalman Einav.[21] Its displays follow postal history in the Land of Israel from the mid-nineteenth-century Ottoman period through the British Mandate and the establishment of the state, encompassing letters, envelopes, postcards, seals, posters, photographs, telephones, mailboxes, and communications equipment.[21]

A central exhibit is a Planeta printing press used to print the first series of stamps issued by the State of Israel; before independence, the same press had printed the Haaretz newspaper and been used for underground printing, at a time when the future country's name had not yet been decided.[21] The pavilion's lower level houses the Zvi Alexander Collection, identified as the most important collection of its kind on Israel's postal history and spanning six centuries.[21]

The Nechushtan Pavilion is dedicated to ancient metalworking at Timna.[18] The pavilion opened in 1983 following excavations led by Beno Rothenberg at the Timna copper-mining site.[4]

The Man and His Work Center, established in 1982 and named for Professor Shmuel Avitzur, grew from an ethnographic collection he began developing in the 1930s.[22] Its displays address traditional work and crafts adapted to local environments, climates, and raw materials, presenting tools and equipment used in agriculture, housework, building, spinning, and weaving.[22] The center holds what has been described as the largest and most important collection in Israel of objects documenting everyday life in the Land of Israel before modern industrialization.[23]

The display is organized into approximately twenty sections within three exhibition areas: a main permanent display, the "Domes of the Creators," and the "Bread Courtyard."[23] The northern section covers food and its production, including grain, grapes, and olives, as well as methods of obtaining and distributing water; the southern section encompasses crafts and activities such as weaving, transport, building, stoneworking, and woodworking.[23]

The Crafts Arcade — eleven domes, each containing a reconstruction of a traditional workshop — represents blacksmithing, woodturning, carpentry, jewelry-making, shoemaking, pottery, weaving, baking, and glassblowing.[22][23] The adjacent Bread Courtyard recreates a threshing floor, where grain was separated from its husks, alongside traditional plows, millstones, grinding tools, and baking installations.[22][23] Most objects in the collection come from recent generations, but the displays compare them with ancient objects and archaeological finds, using identified origins and dates to draw a continuous line between historical and contemporary material culture.[23]

The center reopened after extensive renovation and renewal of its displays in 2009.[23] A 2024 exhibition connected author Meir Shalev's writing with objects from the collection, displaying stonemasons' tools mentioned in his book In His House in the Desert, beehives associated with Russian Romance, and equipment for carrying telegrams associated with A Pigeon and a Boy.[24] A Ferguson tractor that inspired his children's book The Tractor in the Sandbox was brought to the museum on loan from the Ein Vered Tractor Museum.[24]

Beyond its enclosed pavilions, the museum grounds contain a range of open-air archaeological and botanical displays that extend the institution's scope into the landscape itself.[18][15]

Mosaic Square presents floor mosaics from ancient places of worship across Israel, including a sixth-century floor from a Samaritan house of prayer that preserves three inscriptions; one is translated as "Blessing and peace on Istrael (sic) and this place, Amen," with the museum noting that a formula common in Jewish synagogues appears here in a Samaritan context.[15] Additional mosaics come from a synagogue at Tiberias, a church at Suhmata in the Galilee, a villa at Beit Guvrin, and a Muslim place of worship from Ramla.[18] A large excavated winepress is displayed in situ alongside archaeological finds from other locations.[18]

A reconstructed olive-oil press demonstrates ancient oil-production methods, and a reconstructed water-powered flour mill illustrates a milling principle used in the region from the Roman period into modern times.[18][15] Traditional mills of this type produced approximately 30–50 kilograms of flour per hour, compared with about one kilogram per hour using a household hand mill; the miller traditionally received one tenth of the flour as payment.[15] The grounds also include a garden with plants indigenous to Israel and the Garden of Jotham's Parable.[18]

The Lasky Planetarium was dedicated in May 1968 with equipment donated by Chicago philanthropists Harry and Sadie Lasky, whose name the building bears.[25] Designed by W. J. Wittkower and built with funding from the Municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo, it uses a domed projection space to show stars and their motion and to explain astronomical phenomena.[25] Plans announced under the museum's newer leadership include renovation of the planetarium as a near-term priority.[8]

A major renewal and expansion project transformed the museum's western grounds with the creation of a 90-dunam orchard and park, designed by Kimmel Eshkolot Architects and Studio de Lange, with landscape architecture by Studio Urbanof and landscape architect Lior Levinger.[9] The project cost 74 million shekels, funded equally by the Mandel Foundation and the Tel Aviv–Yafo Municipality, and the garden was named for Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel.[9] The first stage covered 50 dunams, with a second stage planned to cover the remaining 40.[9]

The orchard was planted with more than 30 kinds of trees native to the Land of Israel, and 500 additional trees were brought from elsewhere in Israel, including mature and ancient specimens such as wild pear and oak.[9] Local species included olive, arbutus, mastic, carob, Judas tree, fig, and pomegranate.[9] A rainwater collection system carries water from the garden to an underground reservoir, then to an ecological purification pool and an ornamental pool, with surrounding vegetation intended to support local animal diversity.[9]

The orchard development retained existing museum sites and placed new gardens around them, including the oil press, Folklore Pavilion, planetarium, flour mill, and the antiquities of Tell Qasile; the garden rises toward the tell, becoming less cultivated and more open in its higher areas.[9] Five public gates were planned on Namir Road, Rokach Boulevard, and Haim Levanon Street, with free entry from 08:00 to 18:00.[9] Plans also described an urban promenade crossing the garden toward Rokach Boulevard and, in a later stage, linking via a bridge to Yarkon Park.[9]

The broader campus renewal plan followed a competition involving seven architecture firms, which Kimmel Eshkolot Architects and Studio de Lange won.[7] Director general Ami Katz described the aim as connecting the museum to the urban environment and making it a place for art, culture, and green space.[7]

The museum maintains a research library holding more than 30,000 books on Jewish history, art, and the archaeology of the Land of Israel.[4] Walter Moses's original bequest included an extensive art and archaeology library, establishing a research orientation that has remained central to the institution's mission.[4]

The museum's collections encompass approximately 103,000 exhibits across 5,660 square metres of exhibition space.[4] Moses's will called for international-level research and the museum's own archaeological excavations.[4] That research orientation is reflected in the long history of excavations at Tell Qasile and in the museum's stewardship of the site.[2][15] The museum has co-published scholarly work, including a 2013 book produced jointly with the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium.[26] Plans announced under new leadership include renewal of the library housed in the Postal History and Philately Pavilion.[8]

In July 2025, the museum's board approved the appointment of Gil Omer as director general, succeeding Ami Katz upon his retirement after seven years in the role.[8] Plans announced under the new leadership include renovation of the planetarium, renewal of the library in the Postal History and Philately Pavilion, and restoration work at Tell Qasile.[8]

Several points connected to the museum's history and the archaeology of Tell Qasile rest on contested or unresolved interpretations. The museum's own English-language and Hebrew-language pages give different founding dates — 1958 and May 1959, respectively — without explaining the discrepancy.[2][6]

The identity of Tell Qasile's ancient inhabitants remains unresolved. The museum presents a Philistine-culture hypothesis alongside the possibility of a local population shaped by cultural exchange with neighboring regions, and the deity to whom the site's temples were dedicated could not be identified.[15][16] Separately, two source pages within the Jewish Virtual Library give different accounts of the ancient settlement's destruction: one attributes it to King David's forces in the tenth century BCE, while the more detailed archaeological account dates the Israelite-period town's destruction to Pharaoh Shishak's campaign in 924 BCE; the relationship between these accounts is not explained.[18][16]

The 2013 Zvi Oron exhibition drew on material touching on the politically complex relationships of the British Mandate era. Oron was appointed in 1929 by High Commissioner Sir John Chancellor as photographer of the British Mandate Government, giving him access to British officials and military facilities.[3] In 1946, the Arab High Committee invited him to photograph an official meeting at which an economic boycott of the Jewish Yishuv was declared.[3] Some members of the Jewish Yishuv regarded Oron as a traitor and British collaborator — a characterization the exhibition curator addressed while discussing the documentary significance and contested objectivity of his work.[3]