A small but well-organized local history museum tracing Eilat's history from the biblical port of Ezion-Geber through the Nabataean and Roman periods, the Ottoman era, and the founding of the modern city after 1948. The permanent collection includes artifacts from archaeological sites in the surrounding desert, photographs from the early years of the Israeli state, and exhibits on the city's development from a tiny frontier settlement into a major resort.
The museum is compact enough to see in an hour and provides useful context for the wider region — the exhibits on the ancient copper mines of the Timna Valley and the Nabataean trade routes through the Negev are particularly informative. A short film shown regularly covers the story of the Ink Flag, the hand-drawn symbol raised when Israeli troops reached the Gulf of Aqaba in 1949, effectively ending the War of Independence.