Israeli National Maritime Museum, Haifa – Visitors Guide

The Israeli National Maritime Museum showcases over 5,000 years of history and maritime archaeology in the Mediterranean Basin.

Note: Do not confuse the National Maritime Museum with the Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum. Both of these museums are located within a short walking distance from each other, but represent different centuries. While the National Maritime Museum shows ancient times, the Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum concentrates on the 19th century.

Map

The National Maritime Museum is located at Derech Allenby 198, Haifa.

Directions for drivers: Link to Waze and Link to Google Maps
Directions for public transport: Link to Moovit

Interactive map of the area:

Directions

You can reach the museums by car or by public transport. Different buses pass nearby. Here is a link to Moovit, where the Destination is already set. Simply change the starting point to your location, and you will receive the updated directions (for public transportation).

Parking

I found parking along Derech Allenby Street, not far from the museum. And I can suggest you do the same.

Entrance Fee

The National Maritime Museum, Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, and Haifa Museum of Art are part of the six Haifa Museums. Hence, you can purchase a combined ticket or a single ticket to this museum. Here is a screenshot from the Haifa Museums site:

Coupons and Discounts

Currently, there are discounts for Mizrachi Tfahot card members and holders of different credit cards (Isracard, Cal, MAX). There are also discounts for HTZone members and the teachers association. But these benefits are changing over time. Thus, I suggest searching the web for deals and coupons before your visit.

Opening Hours

Opening hours and entrance fees were updated in July 2025. In any case, recheck the official site before visiting the museum.

About

The National Maritime Museum in Haifa showcases the history of shipping in the Mediterranean Basin and the maritime story of Haifa. The museum displays over 5000 years of history and maritime archeology. It makes it possible for its visitors to encounter and learn about ancient ships, anchors, battling rams, and other archeological findings, such as gold coins treasures that were found in marine excavations. The museum also displays the pirate exhibition and the Hebrew-shipping endeavor.

Note: unless stated otherwise, all comments were taken from the official site.

History

The National Maritime Museum was established in 1953 from the private collection of its founder and first director, Aryeh Ben- Eli. In 1972, with donations from the Morrison Fund from London, Haifa Municipality, and friends from Israel and abroad, the museum moved to its current abode. In 1995, the museum’s collection of ancient art was added to the National Maritime Museum collection. Thus alongside exhibits from marine archeology, visitors can also view and encounter ancient Phoenician, Greek, and Roman sculptures and exhibits.

From its inception, the National Maritime Museum has aspired to display maritime history and make it possible for the general public and new audiences to encounter the stories and exhibits from the Mediterranean Basin. The three-floor museum sprawls over 3,500 square meters and includes two permanent exhibitions on two floors, a hall for changing exhibitions, collection rooms, offices, and research rooms.

Technology and Marine Instrumentation

We started on the upper floor with the Technology and Marine Instrumentation.

Technology and Marine Instrumentation – an exhibit of ancient marine navigation instruments, among them hourglasses and travel books from the 17th and 18th centuries, ship compasses/binnacles, sundials, and instruments used for navigation, sailing, and various measurements.

In the next photo, you can see the Qibla (Kiblah). It is an Islamic navigation instrument. It is a variation of the compass dial, which enables the azimuth of the Qibla – the Ka’abah of Mecca, and thus determines the time and direction of the prayer.

They were usually made of brass and wood. These Qiblas were constructed during the 18th and 19th centuries in Persia, Turkey, and North Africa.

Then we continued to the Years of Shipping collection.

The Athlit Ram

One of the most critical and rare discoveries of underwater archeology in Israel is the Athlit ram. The late Yehoshua Ramon discovered it in 1980 in the northern bay of Athlit.

A ram is a weapon attached to a vessel’s prow at or below the water line and was intended to ram enemy vessels.

The Athlit Ram is one of the largest bronze castings ever discovered. The bronze is of high quality, weighing 465 kg.

The four symbols on the ram are integral to the casting process. They are Poseidon’s trident, a helmet surmounted with a star – the sign of Dioscuri, an eagle’s head, and a caduceus – the wand of Hermes. These symbols appear on coins minted in Cyprus between 204 and 164 BCE. That allows researchers to estimate that the ram was made in one of the Cypriot ports and was intended for a vessel in the fleet of Ptolemy V Epiphanes or his successor, Ptolemy VI Philometor.

You can see the ship’s model and the ram on the red background in the following photo.

The Lod Mosaic

A routine archaeological inspection carried out in 1996 in Hahalutz Street in Lod (ancient Lydda) and the subsequent rescue excavations carried by Miriam Avisar on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, uncovered one of the largest and most impressive mosaics ever found in Israel. Approximately 160 m2 in size, the mosaic is comprised of several panels that depict mammals, birds, fish, sea monsters, merchant ships, and geometric and floral patterns.

The mosaic-covered the floors of a large affluent Roman villa and is dated to the late 3rd or early 4th century CE (Late Roman Period).

During the excavations of 1996, the site was open to the public for two days only when approximately 20,000 people came to see it.

Here is only one panel of the 160-square-meter mosaic:

However, due to a lack of funds for its removal and conservation, the mosaic was covered once more with dirt for its preservation. After a generous donation by the Leon Levy Foundation and Shelby White, the mosaic was uncovered yet again in 2009, removed from situ, conserved, and prepared for display.

During the excavations of 2009, the site was open to the public for only one day when approximately 12,000 people visited it.

In 2010, The Lod Mosaic was displayed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as the first in a series of exhibits throughout the world that included The Hermitage, The Field Museum, Musée du Louvre, and The Altes Museum. More than 1 million visitors have seen the mosaic during this time.

The National Maritime Museum in Haifa is the first museum in Israel to display any section of The Lod Mosaic. The section that is displayed depicts a maritime scene with two merchant ships typical of the period and richness of marine life.

Shipwrecked Cargoes

The Mediterranean, especially the eastern basin, is known as the cradle of shipping in the western world because of its nearness to those lands where man’s cultures and states began at the dawn of history. That is where the necessity and possibility of barter and trading started between the various cultures. We have evidence from the beginning of the 3rd Millenium BCE of the trading vessels that sailed the Mediterranean Sea.

The cargo of such a vessel might weigh as much as 100-500 tons. Despite the limitations imposed by the simple square sail, these crafts were able to sail from Egypt to the frontiers of the northern shores of Lebanon. Transport by land was much more costly because loading 100-500 tons onto donkeys or mules would require more than 5000 animals and the same number to accompany them. Such a caravan would take two or three months to reach its destination. As international trade increased, the preference was for maritime transport.

Conditions in the Mediterranean are better for shipping than in the other oceans of the world, mainly because of the lack of tidal fluctuations. Secondly, there are calm weather conditions throughout the summer months, good visibility of the shore by day and the stars at night, and relatively stable winds. All these assisted seafarers find their way, whether along the coast or in mid-ocean, to their destinations.