Exhibitions

This exhibition is a product of this special bond between humans and nature. Specimens that indicate a highly diverse presence of marine mammals in our region have been brought to the museum for the very first time. Marine mammals of the Mediterranean and of the Gulf of Eilat, which is, in fact, an extension of the Indian Ocean, include various species of cetaceans (whales and dolphins) and one species of seal. The telltale findings that testify to their presence have been collected by a very special group of people, members of IMMRAC, who devote their time and energy to the task of studying the world of marine mammals and assisting in the protection of their habitat.

Israel’s location along trade routes connecting three continents - Asia, Africa, and Europe - has given its ports historical significance. Until the early twentieth century, the ports of Jaffa and Acre were the country’s main ports, serving as gateways for passengers and cargo. These ports developed over thousands of years as organic parts of their cities, similar to other historical ports along the Mediterranean.

One of the concerns of seafarers of all times has been how to halt their vessel in mid-ocean when necessary. The first sailors solved the problem by lowering a rock tied to a rope onto the sea-bed.

The lands of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea were always connected with the sea and the rivers. Already in the earliest periods boats traversed the rivers and the coasts of the sea. In these lands was born and developed the art of seafaring, at least as far as the western world is concerned.

During the 15th-16th centuries maritime exploration and colonization reached a peak. It was a decisive phase between the Middle Ages and the beginning of Modern Times.

This exhibition presents emblematic figures of gods, goddesses, heroes, and mythical marine creatures from ancient times to the modern era. Maritime trade and seafaring have played a crucial role in shaping cultural exchanges, through which sea-related beliefs and myths evolved and transformed. The vastness of the sea has been an endless source of human imagination - from the mighty gods of the ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans, through the protective saints of Christianity, to the superheroes of the modern age.

The model ships in this display reflect a dramatic and stormy chapter in Jewish marine history during the years before the establishment of the State, and the first few years after its establishment. They demonstrate the progression from sailing ships to modern, motorized ships, and narrate the story of the development of Hebrew seafaring from private and civilian initiatives up to the national projects of Ha’apala, Aliya, and the establishment of an Israeli merchant fleet.