This little museum shows how was the house of the high priest in the year 70 AD when the Temple was destroyed and it shows a very interesting and well done video that takes back on time and shows you the internal conflict under that time.
The Burnt House (Katros House)
Following the Six Day War, Israeli archaeologists began digging extensively in the newly recaptured Jewish Quarter of the Old City, uncovering many invaluable discoveries. One of the most impressive of these, the Burnt House, was found under a cloak of ash, six meters below street level. Artifacts found at the site indicate that the house belonged to an upper-class Jewish family and was set alight when the armies of Titus stormed Jerusalem in 70 CE as a reprisal for Jewish resistance.
Besides the house itself, visitors can browse a collection of artifacts dating from the Second Temple period including a stone weight inscribed with the name of the family that used to live in the house – Katros. The Burnt House screens a film (available in both Hebrew and English) that dramatizes the waning days of the Katros family, holed into the house as the Romans close in. The film affords visitors the chance to learn about the revolt against the Romans and the political strife that divided Judea’s Jewish community in the years leading up to the sacking of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple.
TripAdvisor Reviews
Based on 62 traveler reviews“A little daft”
The archaeological remains of the burnt house are fascinating and the wall panels and artifacts do much to bring it to life. But the loooong video is just a soap opera about an imagined life in the house at the time of the destruction of the temple by the Romans. It's like days of...
MoreThe archaeological remains of the burnt house are fascinating and the wall panels and artifacts do much to bring it to life. But the loooong video is just a soap opera about an imagined life in the house at the time of the destruction of the temple by the Romans. It's like days of our lives. Says nothing about the remains of the house, just a long film about the various characters who might have lived there. Bit of a missed opportunity to be honest.
Less“A museum with high historical and emotional value”
“A museum from the first century”
The Burnt House Museum lies a bit hidden in Tif'eret Street in a busy part of the Jewish Quarter. I hadn't expected to stumble across it but do not regret visiting it because it was interesting. In the first century the house was built opposite the Second Temple, which the family could probably see...
MoreThe Burnt House Museum lies a bit hidden in Tif'eret Street in a busy part of the Jewish Quarter. I hadn't expected to stumble across it but do not regret visiting it because it was interesting. In the first century the house was built opposite the Second Temple, which the family could probably see quite well from their home. They are supposed to have belonged to the aristocracy of priests. I read that the name Qathros is even mentioned in the Talmud. They were wealthy and important. That is why we can visit their house today. When the Romans destroyed and burnt down the Temple this house caught fire, too, and its wooden roof came down. Half an arm of a young woman was found in the ruins. The exhibition shows various objects of everyday usage. Most illustrative is a film about the family and its life and problems before around 70 AD.
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