Kfar Kama: Circassian Heritage

Circassian Culture in Kfar Kama

When searching for hotels in Kfar Kama, you can include the town’s cultural highlights in your travel plans. The Circassian Heritage Center offers tastings of Circassian cuisine. Guided tours in Kfar Kama introduce the mosque, Beit Shogan, and Beit Hatukay; these three buildings are considered the village’s central buildings. The cultural offerings mentioned here give you both culinary tastings and a look at important village buildings.

Buildings in the Circassian style shape the character of the old quarter. Their high walls are made of rough black basalt. The adjoining courtyards are connected by doors. The materials, the height of the walls, and the connections between the courtyards give the quarter’s architecture its distinctive character. Alongside the tours and the Heritage Center, the built environment is another subject to explore as you learn about Kfar Kama.

The Circassian Museum in Kfar Kama is considered the country’s largest museum dedicated to Circassian culture. This national distinction refers specifically to that subject. Together with the tours that introduce three central buildings, it offers a clear cultural focus for planning your trip: the museum is dedicated to Circassian culture, while the tours highlight the mosque, Beit Shogan, and Beit Hatukay.

A festival takes place in Kfar Kama every year. If you are considering it as a reason to choose your travel dates, check the specific date before booking. The Circassian Heritage Center also recommends calling ahead to coordinate your visit. It gives avoiding a wait on-site as the reason.

Archaeological highlights in the wider destination of the Northern District

In the wider destination of the Northern District, Tel Hazor and Tel Megiddo offer further cultural and historical highlights. They differ from Kfar Kama’s Circassian heritage and provide a regional archaeological context.

Tel Hazor is a biblical tell with significant remains of a city with biblical associations; the visit focuses on the upper city. The structures mentioned there include Solomon’s Gate, with six chambers and two towers dating from the 10th century BCE. Tel Hazor’s fortifications are considered the finest example of their kind in the area from southern Turkey to the northern Negev. A Canaanite palace is another archaeological highlight: it was used by the kings of Hazor in the 14th and 13th centuries BCE. The Late Bronze Age palace is described as the most elaborate in Israel and one of the most important in the Levant.

Tel Hazor’s water system is another highlight. It preserves significant remains of an underground water-collection system, an ingenious feat of engineering adapted to the geography for storing water. The excavated shaft is 45 meters deep, with steps three meters wide carved into its vertical walls. Directions to Tel Hazor National Park give Route 90 from the north and south toward Ayelet Hashahar. Check your navigation before setting out.

Tel Megiddo is one of three tells that preserve significant remains of cities with biblical associations and are closely connected with events in the Bible. Its Early Bronze Age temple complex is exceptional for the number of its temples, the continuity of cult activity, and the documented ritual activities. The orthogonal city plan dates to the Iron Age and has few parallels in the Levant. Comparing the regional highlights, Tel Hazor focuses, among other things, on fortifications and water storage, while Tel Megiddo focuses on its temple complex and city plan.

Discover more destinations: Beit Rimon, Tirat Ẕevi, Kfar HaNassi, Beit Keshet, Julis, Shibli, Karmi'el, Misgav Am.

Return to the wider travel overview: Northern District.