There are loads of museums in Tel Aviv. They include large, national institutions such as the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and Beit Hatfutsot: The Museum of the Diaspora. There are also more specialist museums such as the Museum of the History of Tel Aviv-Yafo, the Bauhaus Museum, and the Reuven Rubin Museum.
There are also many great museums in the towns surrounding Tel Aviv. Check out the Design Museum in the city of Holon to the south. Or head north to the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, north of Tel Aviv.
The Tel Aviv Museum of Art
The Tel Aviv Museum of Art is almost undoubtedly one of the greatest museums of modern art in the world. With a massive newly opened wing, the museum has a great collection of works by both Israeli and leading international artists showcased in an incredible building.
Beit Hatfutsot: The Museum of the Jewish People
Beit Hatfutsot is The Museum of the Jewish People. It’s a fascinating museum located within the campus of the Tel Aviv University in Ramat Aviv in north Tel Aviv. The museum chronicles Jewish life across the diaspora over thousands of years using interesting and creative displays. Currently undergoing a massive refurbishment program, the museum is worth a visit. You can dive into Jewish history, and it’s somewhere you could easily end up spending a day or even more!
Eretz Israel Museum
Also in Ramat Aviv, a short distance from Beit Hatfutsot, is the Eretz Israel Museum. It’s also called the Museum of the Land of Israel. This museum is predominantly an archaeology museum. It has a number of pavilions set across a beautiful site above the center of Tel Aviv. It focuses on different aspects of history.
Design Museum Holon
The internationally acclaimed Design Museum Holon is housed in a work of art. It’s a masterpiece by leading Israeli architect Ron Arad which is the focal point of Holon, just south of Tel Aviv. It houses two or three rotating exhibitions relating to the world of design. The Design Museum is not a huge museum but is something of a spectacle.
Bauhaus Museum
The Bauhaus Museum is a boutique gallery/museum on Bialik Street. It showcases the history and development Bauhaus design in the heart of Tel Aviv’s UNESCO recognized White City. It is only open two days a week: Wednesday (11 am – 5 pm) and Friday (10 am – 2 pm). However, it offers an interesting insight into the amazing Bauhaus architecture of Tel Aviv.
Reuven Rubin Museum
Also on Bialik Street is the Reuven Rubin Museum, the old house of one of Israel’s most influential artists. Telling the life of Rubin, it showcases not only his works but also those of other artists in themed exhibitions.
Bialik Museum
Almost next door the Rubin Museum is the Bialik Museum, home of the first great modern Hebrew poet, Haim Nachman Bialik. Whilst it is a bit difficult to understand the poems unless you speak Hebrew or Yiddish, some information is in English, and the atmosphere and furnishings give a good insight into life in Tel Aviv during the 1920’s for the cultured European Immigrants.
Museum of the History of Tel Aviv-Yafo
The Museum of the History of Tel Aviv-Yafo is situated in the converted former Town Hall of Tel Aviv, an impressive building also located in Bialik Street, this time in Bialik Square magnificently heading the road! The museum opened just a few years ago and its interesting multimedia displays chronicle the fascinating history of this city from its establishment just 100 years ago, to the modern day.
Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art
For contemporary art, check out some of the smaller galleries listed below, or travel just north to Herzliya where you will find the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, one of Israel’s premier art museums.
Others
A number of small, contemporary art galleries such as The Heder Contemporary Art Gallery, Raw Art Gallery, Dvir Gallery, and noga Gallery.
