A big small museum - the museum of models and miniatures in Haifa

A hidden gem

At 25 Adm HaCohen Street in Neve Shanan, a few tens of meters from the entrance to the Technion, behind an unpretentious entrance to an old apartment building, a gem that not many people know is hidden - the Museum of Models and Miniatures named after Panina and Zohar (Zigmund) Greif.

Those who go down the stairs will reach the museum which contains about 1,100 scale models, and brings a large number of exhibits from the fields of military history, sailing, aviation, space exploration and more.

As befits a miniature museum, the museum itself is miniature. It covers several rooms in a residential apartment that belonged to Penina and Zohar (Zigmund) Greif, and today their son, Dror Doron (Greif), operates his museum there.

The museum is an experience in itself, which intensifies several times when you hear Dror's explanations, and understand that behind each and every model hides a world with its own fascinating story.

All the miniature models in the museum were built and painted by Dror with his own two hands.

Wars of old

how it started?

Dror grew up in permanent army housing in Kiryat Yam. In 1959, when he was three years old, the Greif family moved to Haifa to a house at 25 Adam HaCohen Street.

It was the first building in the area, apart from the Technion, which mainly housed the Faculty of Aeronautics and the Churchill Building. Everything around was forests, groves, trees and fields, and in the courtyard of the lonely house, flocks of goats used to pass.

Dror tells here:

My love for building models began in the long vacation between kindergarten and first grade.
In the Ziv neighborhood, where the taxi station now stands, stood at the time Islander's shop For books, school supplies and toys.

In the window of the store hung bags with plastic parts, and above them beautiful pictures of planes, ships and cars. As a small child, I would stand and look for hours at the magnificent pictures. I really wanted to have sailing ships, planes and cars like that.

One day I entered the store with a little money in my pocket, and left with a small red airplane that I liked, and that fit the modest budget of a six-year-old boy.

At home I started, little by little, gluing the parts according to the instructions. It took months, but when I put the finished model on the table it fell apart, because I used the wrong glue.
I returned to Einzler and bought a special glue from him, with the help of which I was able to finally assemble the plane without it falling apart.
But it doesn't end here.

In order for the plane to look like the picture, I had to paint it and stick symbols on it. I borrowed some money from my parents and went down to Hadar. Derech Simcha Golan didn't exist then, and I walked down through the fields and through the Geula neighborhood to Hamudi's store on Hanaviyim Street, where I bought suitable colors.

I returned home, sat patiently at the table, painted everything, glued symbols, and finally had my own plane.

And what now?

All the friends came to admire, and this greatly flattered the young sparrow and pushed him to continue. A relative brought him a model of a fighter plane as a gift. Later, after collecting a few more pennies, Dror purchased a model of a tank at the "Book Spring". This is how the story unfolded, and building models became a hobby that filled him.

"It wasn't just the construction," says Dror. "Over time, I wanted to investigate what was actually behind these models that I was building, and that's how I got many lessons in history, lessons that I didn't get at the school I didn't visit too often."

World Wars I, II (photo series)

Dror did not show much love for educational settings. The result was that at a certain point there was no longer a school in Haifa that agreed to accept him. In 1968, Dror was sent to Kibbutz Kabri, and even there he did not stop building models.

The museum built in the sea

In 1977, after his release from the IDF, Dror went to work abroad. At that time there was a great demand for workers in the oil fields in Norway. With hard work it was possible to earn handsome sums there, and many young Israelis who were military veterans went there.

Over time, Dror advanced and worked as an officer on a Norwegian lifeboat. These cruises, says Dror, could have been quite boring. But Dror's models made sure he was never bored.

In 1990 Dror returned to Israel. For about two years he managed the Ministry of Defense's Naval and Naval Museum, and then worked in the construction team of the "Intel" factory in Kiryat Gat.

Modern Wars (photo series)

But the sea called him, and in 2002 Dror returned to it, this time as a British naval officer on a "charter ship". It was a luxurious passenger ship, rented at a rate of between 50 and 70 thousand dollars per day. The passengers were world rich, movie stars, industrialists and billionaires.

In the summer the ship usually sailed in the Mediterranean Sea, in the Blue Sea region of France and Spain and in the Mediterranean Islands, and in the winter in the Caribbean Islands. The passengers would swim in the sea, ride jet skis, or go on tours of the beaches where the ship was docked.

Such a cruise took about one to two weeks or even more. While the ship sailed and crossed seas and oceans, Dror also found free time to build more and more models.

In 2015, Dror was offered a job on a ship that tracked and documented refugee ships in the Mediterranean. Refugee ships then used to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Africa to the shores of southern Europe and the European Union released two such ships to train and train the rescuers.  

To prepare such a ship, Dror was sent to Norfolk, Virginia, where he met his friend Bruce Son, a captain in the American Navy. Dror spent a long time there in unsuccessful attempts to prepare the ship for sailing, but the lack of communication between the Europeans and the Americans failed the project.

The idea

Dror talked to Bruce about his collection of models, and Bruce came up with an idea: he suggested establishing a museum in Virginia Beach based on the models. He started working with the Navy and the government in Virginia and Norfolk to prepare space and budgets for the museum. Even the large hangar was designated as a museum, alongside two old anti-submarine aircraft. The two planned to build it four or five stories in the future. Dror intended to add more models, and planned to hold lectures, model-building workshops and many other activities instead.

Meanwhile, Dror was recruited to a ship for oceanographic research, and went down to Antarctica for six months. In July 2016, Dror received the sad news that his friend Bruce fell ill and passed away, thus ending the dream of the museum in Virginia.

The museum is underway

In 2018, Dror returned to Israel to be with his mother who fell ill. Shortly after he arrived, the mother died, and the apartment on Adam HaCohen Street became vacant.

Dror tells here:

The apartment was a little big for me, and then, in a moment of brilliance (or maybe madness) I decided to try and set up this museum.
I had many doubts, but I decided that I would do something in a reduced edition and see what happens.
I told myself that if it doesn't work and I'll be the only visitor, I'll just put the collection back in the boxes and maybe sell it, and if it works, visitors will come and there will be good feedback, then maybe I'll look for a bigger place.
I started working in the middle of 2018, as soon as the apartment became available, and I continue today.

At first, I worked very intensively. I would fall into bed for four hours a day and go back to work.
I assembled showcases, shelves, signage and everything needed.
I opened the museum to run in the middle of 2019, and in 2020 it was already on its feet as I wanted.

The feedback was very positive. Among other things, foreign journalists came and wrote beautiful articles about the place. Among them was also a reporter for "Proceedings", the American Navy's publication, who also told his readers Bruce's story.

Following the article, an offer came from the "New Jersey" museum to move the museum there. The "New Jersey" is a floating museum located on a battleship docked in New Jersey.

Dror began to take care of the formal procedures, but then the corona virus arrived. The American museum ran into financial difficulties and the issue fell through.

Then a delegation arrived from a museum in Singapore, who wanted to house the sparrow museum in a small wing at their place. But when they realized that there were thousands of models, it turned out that there was no room for them.

There were other applications that did not mature.

Can Haifa provide a home for the next phase of the museum?

To develop an orderly plan for the expansion of the museum and its activities. These plans require a larger space, and some investment. My opinion is that this special gem must stay and grow in Haifa.

The municipality of Haifa, in its current state, is not prepared to finance such a project. In the spirit of these days, this task can only be carried out with the support of private parties. If there is anyone among the readers who can pick up the gauntlet, he is welcome to contact us.

In the meantime, this is a recommended experience for adults and children.

The museum is open all days of the week, and visiting it by prior arrangement by phone 054-545-1284