The Jewish Museum Milwaukee, Wisconsin's only museum dedicated to the history of the Jewish people in this region, officially opens today.

The museum, 1360 N. Prospect Ave., celebrates the continuum of Jewish heritage and culture, through artifacts, film, photographs and interactive exhibits. It presents the story of the Jewish people who made their way to southeastern Wisconsin through successive waves of immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries and describes the life and the community they built in the years that followed.

Other areas of the museum focus on the Holocaust and on the founding of Israel, with special emphasis on Golda Meir, a Russian immigrant to Milwaukee who went on to become the fourth prime minister of Israel.

The Jewish Museum Milwaukee is a program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation. It is open Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 pm; Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.