User:Mb1913/Menachem Begin Heritage Museum

Menachem Begin Heritage Museum

The Begin Museum is located in Jerusalem, ISRAEL in the Menachem Begin Heritage Center and is considered one of the newest and best of the country's museums. The presentation is an audio-visual trek which takes the visitor back in time through some of the most dramatic and moving moments in the history of the state of Israel and the Jewish people in the 20th century.

The Museum
The Museum is interactive comprised of films, audio-visual presentations, documentary clips, rich decoration, dramatic lighting and surround-sound leaving the visitor with an experiential feeling of emotion and turbulence.

The visit opens with a short film on Begin's life and the visitors then move on to a chronological trip of Begin's European period from Brisk, Begin's birthplace and home, to Warsaw where he graduated his law studies and on to Vilna to where he fled from the German invasion with his wife at the beginning of World War II. This section recounts his Zionist activities and his arrest, interrogation and incarceration by the Soviet authorities, reenacted by actors.

The second section begins with a visit to an Irgun secret command hideaway and deals with the period of Begin as underground commander. The various events described include: the King David blast, the Acre Jail breakout, and the hanging of the two sergeants, actions that shook the British mandatory regime.

The third section is dedicated to those years when Begin served in the opposition. The visitor is invited to make himself at home in the Begins' living room at 1 Rosenbaum Street in Tel Aviv that has been faithfully reconstructed as well as viewing newsreel footage from eight Knesset election campaigns as well as the Reparations demonstration and Begin's joining the National Unity Government on the eve of the Six Days War. The section ends with the visitor listening and watching Begin the orator in some of his speaking appearances in a "public square" a leader of the Herut Movement.

The fourth section highlights Begin's role as Prime Minister with scenes displayed on three large screens thus engaging the visitor through the stormy two terms of office as Israel's sixth prime minister including the visit of Egypt's Anwar Sadat and the signing of the Peace Treaty, the destruction of Iraq's nuclear facility and the Lebanon War, brining Ethiopia's Jewry to Israel and Project Renewal in full color and sound.

The concluding portion of the Museum leads the visitor through the Heritage Avenue with accompanying pictures and text.

Details
The length of the tour is 75 minutes.

The museum provides translation broadcast in English, French, Russian, Spanish and Arabic.

Opening Hours
Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 9AM – 4:30PM

Tuesday 9AM – 7PM

Friday and Holiday Eve 9AM – 12:30PM

Visits by pre-registration only

02-5652011; Fax: 02-5652010 offices@begincenter.org.il

Address: 6 Nahon Street Jerusalem, ISRAEL (above the Cinematheque, next to Mishkanot Shaananim)