Fodor's Expert Review First Aliya Museum

The museum is dedicated to the 30,000 people who came to Palestine during the First Aliya (a period of settlement from 1882 until 1904). Life-size model displays highlighting local immigrants (like Zachariya, the seed vendor, and Izer, the cobbler) illustrate life at that time. A film traces the struggles of a family who came from Europe in this difficult period of Israel's modern history. Commissioned by Baron Edmond de Rothschild, the museum's three-floor building is a fine example of late-19th-century Ottoman-style architecture, built of white stone with a central pediment capped by a tile roof. During World War I, the Turks used it as a military hospital.