Dedicated to Jewish armed resistance during the British Mandate, this museum occupies a massive structure built by the Turks in the late 18th century on 13th-century Crusader foundations and used as a prison by both the Ottomans and the British. People jailed here included Revisionist Zionist leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky (from 1920 to 1921) and eight Jewish underground fighters who were executed by hanging, most of them in 1947 (the gallows room is open to the public).
A film features the Etzel’s (Irgun’s) daring mass breakout of 1947 (that scene in the movie version of Exodus was filmed here).
Baha’ullah, founder of the Baha’i faith, was imprisoned here by the Ottomans in the late 19th century. His cell, a holy place for the Baha'i, is open only to Baha'i pilgrims.
The museum is run by Israel's Ministry of Defense, so you'll have to show your passport to get in.
