Beit Ussishkin Nature Museum, Natural history museum in Dan, Israel.
Beit Ussishkin Nature Museum is a natural history museum in Dan housed in a stone building. Visitors encounter collections of stuffed animals and three-dimensional displays representing the landscapes of the Galilee, Golan, and Hermon regions.
The museum began with a collection of natural specimens gathered in the secretariat hut of Kibbutz Dan. Elimelech Horovitz, a kibbutz member, sought a funder for a museum and persuaded Yosef Weitz to establish it in the name of Menachem Ussishkin. The cornerstone was laid in October 1951, and the first wing opened on 13 January 1955; a second wing followed in 1960.
The museum displays archaeological finds from Tel Dan that show how people lived and worked in this region long ago. The artifacts reveal details about ancient crafts, trade, and daily routines.
The museum sits in Kibbutz Dan in the northern Hula Valley and belongs to the Society for the Protection of Nature, run with the Upper Galilee Regional Council and the kibbutz. It closed temporarily when Kibbutz Dan was evacuated at the start of the war in October 2023 and reopened gradually afterwards, so check current opening before travelling. The building is recognized as a heritage site by the Council for Conservation of Heritage Sites in Israel.
The museum was the northern trailhead of the Israel National Trail until May 2023, when the route was changed and no longer passes near the building. The first wing opened on 13 January 1955; the second was inaugurated in 1960, the same year the museum carried out an archaeological survey of the Hula Valley.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,368 contributors worldwide.
