If your interest in coming to Israel is focused on its modern history, perhaps the Herzl Museum should be your first stop. Yet, the Herzl Museum is anything but a museum. Don’t look for any showcases. It is a multi-sensory audio-visual presentation of Herzl and his life journey to institutionalize the goal of forming a Jewish state – the Zionist organization.

Herzl and the Herzl Museum

Binyamin Ze’ev Theodor Herzl was born in Budapest in 1860. He was a lawyer, journalist, playwright, and most known as a political activist. In 1897, Herzl set the first Zionist congress, promoting his vision of Jewish immigration to Palestine to form a Jewish state. Herzl died in 1904, years before the establishment of the state of Israel, yet he is still renowned as the “Visionary of the Nation.”

The Museum is a 60-minute, thought-provoking presentation of Herzl’s struggles to form the Zionist Movement. It is split into four exhibition spaces, showing significant events in Herzl’s life, from his early life in Vienna and the Dreyfus trial to his Zionist congress in Basel. The visitor actively participates in Herzl’s bold aspiration and the challenges he faces. The museum’s design is young and modern, inviting people of all ages.

Visiting the Herzl Museum

The Museum is located at the entrance to the Mt. Herzl . The museum  tour can be combined with a visit to Herzl’s Tomb, the Leaders of the Nation Cemetery around it, and the adjacent military cemetery. It is also a short distance from the National Holocaust museum (Yad Vashem), and the picturesque village of Ein-Karem.

A tour of Herzl Museum can integrated into a day tour of Jerusalem.