Beit Ussishkin Museum

While touring the Galilee, don’t miss SPNI’s Beit Ussishkin Museum, a unique nature museum telling the story of nature, geography and archaeology in the lush eastern Upper Galilee. The museum is housed in a beautiful stone structure, designed by architect Leopold Krakauer, and built in the 1950s by expert stonemasons from Jerusalem. SPNI and local educator Elimelech Horovitz, established the museum from concerns that the draining of the Hula Wetlands would result in the loss of native wildlife and landscape values in the area. Examples of wildlife (large collection of stuffed animals), with emphasis on avian abundance in the region, and three-dimensional dioramas of the diverse habitats of the Galilee, Golan, and Hermon, were preserved. Special exhibitions focus on the life of man in the biblical period, as reflected by numerous artifacts from Tel Dan. 

Museum guides offer a narrated tour. Custom-tailored activities, games and lesson plans are available for all age groups by arrangement. Various nature films, dealing with the region and ecology, can be viewed in the spacious auditorium.
It is recommended to combine a visit in the museum, before or after a tour to nearby Tel Dan reserve, and/or the Hula nature reserve.

Here it is also the start/finish point of the famous Israel National Trail, an over 1000km long hiking route, connecting most of the vast views, people and sites within Israel.