Dedicated to Jewish armed resistance during the British Mandate, this museum occupies a massive structure built by the Turks in the late 18th century on 13th-century Crusader foundations. It was used as a prison by both the Ottomans and the British. People jailed here included Revisionist Zionist leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky (from 1920 to 1921) and eight Jewish underground fighters who were executed by hanging. The museum is run by Israel’s Ministry of Defense; show your passport to get in.
The museum is peopled with grey statues and has a soundtrack of clanking chains, adding to the bleak mood. A film features the Etzel’s (Irgun’s) daring mass breakout of 1947 (that scene in the movie version of Exodus was filmed here).
Baha’ullah, founder of the Baha’i faith, was imprisoned here by the Ottomans in the late 19th century. His cell, a holy place for the Baha’i, is open only to Baha’i pilgrims.
