The Collection

The Wilfrid Israel Museum was the first in Israel to exhibit East Asian art, and its permanent collection is organized by region: India, Nepal, and Tibet; China; Japan and Korea; Thailand and Cambodia; Persia, Greece, and Egypt. Together these galleries trace centuries of artistic exchange across the Asian continent and the Near East.↗↗

The collection has grown steadily since 1951 through donations by private collectors, enriching the original holdings that Wilfrid Israel gathered during his travels in the 1920s. Alongside these ancient treasures, a local archaeological collection—dug and researched by kibbutz member Ezra Meirhof—connects the world of Asian art to the soil beneath the museum's feet.↗

Temporary exhibitions of contemporary art, both Israeli and international, are shown alongside the permanent collection, always drawing an aesthetic or conceptual thread back to Asian traditions. This juxtaposition keeps the museum dynamic and gives repeat visitors a reason to return.↗↗

Architecture and Setting

The museum building was planned in the mid-1940s by architects Munio Gitai Weinraub and Alfred Mansfeld, who designed the entire central core of Kibbutz HaZore'a. Their modernist approach—simple, functional, and elegant—means the museum sits as an integral part of the kibbutz landscape, facing its great lawn just as the original plan intended. The building has grown over the decades with several additions at the rear, but Weinraub's original design units remain in use.↗↗

The setting itself is part of the experience. Kibbutz HaZore'a is nestled in the pastoral Jezreel Valley, adjoining the rolling Menashe Hills—a landscape of agricultural fields, wooded slopes, and wide skies that makes the visit feel like a day in the Galilee countryside.↗

Visiting

The museum offers guided tours and educational activities for adults and children, including gallery talks with exhibiting artists, study circles, and a creative workshop. It is a cultural center as much as a gallery, and its programming emphasizes multiculturalism, tolerance, and the values Wilfrid Israel embodied.↗↗

Getting there: the museum is located inside Kibbutz HaZore'a in the Megiddo Regional Council area of the Northern District. Visitors can park in the car parks at the kibbutz entrance; accessible parking is available right beside the museum. The nearest bus stop is roughly 300 meters away, and Yokneam–Kfar Yehoshua train station is about 4 km distant.↗

Admission is 40 NIS for adults, 20 NIS for seniors, 15 NIS for children, and 25 NIS for soldiers. Journalists, tour guides, and ICOM members enter free. The museum is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 to 14:00, Tuesdays from 12:00 to 17:00, and Saturdays from 10:00 to 14:00. It is closed on Sundays for individual visitors, though group visits can be arranged by prior agreement.↗↗

Accessibility

The Wilfrid Israel Museum is a single-storey building with a wide, step-free entrance, broad doorways into the galleries, low displays visible from a wheelchair, accessible toilets with grab rails, and sound amplification for visitors who need it. The team offers guided visits and can assist with any specific access requests made ahead of time.↗↗