Wohl Archaeological Museum

The Wohl Archaeological Museum (Hebrew: מוזיאון וואהל לארכיאולוגיה) is an ancient Musem located under a modern Jewish seminary in the Jewish Quarter. The Museum contains the remains of Jewish dwellings from the era of Herod the Great (37-4 BC).

The Whol Museum is located underground and preserves the remains of six houses from the Herodian period that were excavated in 1967.

The six homes whose remains are on display were destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. The site includes water cisterns, elaborate bathrooms with beautiful floors, reception halls with colorful stucco paintings and mosaic and many artifacts that bring to life the daily existence of 2000 years ago.

The six houses are three to seven meters below the present day street level. The first home, the Western House, holds several private Jewish ritual baths (mikvaot).

In the Middle Complex, you will find the remains of two separate houses where archaeologists discovered a maze-pattern mosaic floor covered in burnt wood. There’s a model of the mansion as it might have looked before its destruction.

In the Museum you will find ashes, fire damage to the wall paintings and burnt beams that bring the horrors of the Roman destruction.

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