Bar-Davod Museum in Bar'am Stood Open Throughout the Northern War
At Kibbutz Bar'am in the Upper Galilee, about 300 meters from the border, the Bar-David Museum remained open and attended throughout the fighting in the north. The museum’s manager, Avi, said he did not leave the site at any point during the war, stressing his responsibility for the displays and the rare collection.
The museum houses an unusual Judaica and Jewish art collection gathered by Moshe and Tova Bar-David. Its holdings include oils, watercolors, drawings, etchings, lithographs and prints, with works by Jewish artists from the mid-19th century to the present. The collection spans artists who worked abroad, immigrants who later settled in Israel, and artists born and active in Israel, and it includes both famous names and lesser-known creators, as well as experimental works, sketches and preparatory drawings from the 1950s and 1960s.
Among the notable items is a rare eight-part glass-painting series by Ya'ankel Adler based on the Story of Joseph, made with reverse glass-painting technique. The museum has several sections, including permanent and rotating exhibitions, a special display on concrete structures such as the famous pillbox, a sound installation from Lebanon, and a youth exhibition. The permanent Judaica show, “Tradition and Continuity,” tells the story of the Jewish people through objects and art, and guided tours also highlight ancient Torah scrolls and a beam from the ancient synagogue in Bar'am.
One rotating exhibition, “Red Day,” by Noam Adri, draws on a childhood ritual from Kibbutz Ramat Yohanan, where children wore red clothes, ate red food and took part in red-themed activities. Adri’s work depicts kibbutz life, its institutions, people and disappearing sites, from the bakery and soda room to the communal club and public telephone, with the darker mood deepening in works created after October 7. The article says the museum’s location, along a scenic northern road through orchards and vineyards, is part of its appeal, and notes other nearby sites in the Upper Galilee, including the Reut Museum near Yiftach and the Asher Museum in Dan.
