Migdal, a Jewish settlement of the time of the Second Temple, is mentioned in the Talmud as “Migdal Nunia” and “Migdal Tzavea”. The Jewish settlement depleted gradually since the destruction of the Second Temple and was not even mentioned in any sources from the 5th century BC onward. It was only after the Arab conquest, in later centuries, that Arab peasants inhabited the area and named it “Majdal”. In 1910 the Jewish settlement at the site was renewed, first as a private agricultural farm of the Hovevei Zion (“Lovers of Zion”) group from Russia, led by Moshe Glikin. The aim of the farm was to train the pioneers of the Second Aliyah or agricultural work. Several people lived and worked at the farm, who later became key figures in the history of Jewish settlement of the Land of Israel, among them Joseph Trumpeldor and the members of his commune: Shmuel Fiksman, Gdud HaAvoda (“Work Battalion”), J.H. Brenner and many others. The farm was dissolved in the 1920’s and the place was granted the status of a Moshava (small town), and was declared a local council in 1949. The museum was founded in 1998 in one the farm’s first buildings.
What’s at the site: a guidance and information center on the heritage of the Second Aliyah and the history of the settlement and its inhabitants; a display of photographs and documents from the early days of Migdal as a farm and a Moshava, providing a chronological description of its development.
For the general public: guided tours of the museum, the farm courtyard as well guided tours of Migdal’s various sites: Nun spring, Villa Melchett, the first water tower and the guard tower.