Have you heard of the Canaanites, Egyptians, Hittites, Persians and Philistines but have little grasp of who they actually were or what their cultures were like? The Bible Lands Museum explores how the various peoples mentioned in the Bible, including the ancient Hebrews, actually lived. This may be the best place in the world to […]
Ben Yehuda Street is named for the founder of Modern Hebrew, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. This busy pedestrian mall runs from King George Street to Zion Square at the meeting point of Yoel Solomon Street and Jaffa Road in central Jerusalem. Also known as the “midrechov” (literally, “pedestrian street”) in Hebrew, Ben Yehuda Street is the heart […]
Established in 1953, less than a decade after the Holocaust ended, Yad Vashem is considered the world center for documentation, research, education and commemoration of the Holocaust. For visitors to Israel, Yad Vashem’s engrossing Holocaust History Museum is the most significant of the institution’s vast Holocaust-related resources and is arguably Israel’s most important museum. This […]
Ammunition Hill, called Givat HaTachmoshet in Hebrew, is located between two modern neighborhoods on the eastern side of Jerusalem. The site of fierce fighting during the 1967 Six Day War’s campaign to reunify Jerusalem, today Ammunition Hill serves as a memorial for all 181 Israeli soldiers who were killed during that conflict. Ammunition Hill itself […]
Less than a year after Israel became a state in 1948, the Knesset, Israel’s parliamentary house, convened for the first time as an official arm of the Israeli government, replacing two previous bodies that acted as legislative arms of the Zionist leadership in Israel. The term Knesset comes from the Hebrew word meaning assembly. The […]
The Caliber 3 training range is a professional training site for counterterrorism training that also provides a thrilling experience for tourists. Thousands of people who work in Israel’s security industry train here with professional instructors who have expressed their commitment to Israel’s security by serving in elite units of the Israel Defense Forces and the […]
It’s hard to imagine a spot in Israel that says, “You’re in the Middle East,” more than Machne Yehuda. Known to locals as “the shuk,” new Jerusalem’s main bustling outdoor market is a popular attraction for Israeli shoppers and tourists alike. With more than 250 vendors, Machne Yehuda offers the best prices and freshest selections […]
With ten separate exhibition areas and off-site installations, there is no larger, more comprehensive art and history museum in Israel than the Israel Museum. Jerusalem’s Israel Museum is so vast, it could take several days to explore its campuses and see its entire collections. The Israel Museum is perhaps best known for the Shrine of […]
If you want to connect to ancient Jerusalem in a tangible manner while you’re visiting Israel, consider the Archaeological Experience in Emek Tzurim, also known as the Temple Mount Sifting Project. Located at the bottom of the Kidron Valley on the slopes of Mount Scopus near Hebrew University, this initiative allows visitors from around the […]
Today, the commerce, culture and entertainment compound known as “Jerusalem First Station” is a thriving and welcoming hub, a place for eating, drinking, upscale shopping, tours, regular activities and special events. But it wasn’t until 2013 that preservationists began working in earnest to breathe new life into the first train station in Jerusalem. The first […]
In the hills surrounding Jerusalem, amidst the Forest of the Martyrs in Moshav Kisalon, is a bronze monument that stands 26 feet high. Called the Scroll of Fire (Megilat ha-Esh in Hebrew), the monument is an epic sculpture created by Holocaust survivor and artist Nathan Rapoport. Inaugurated in 1971, the central monument is shaped like […]
It might surprise you to know that one of the most frequently visited graves in Jerusalem belongs to a non-Jew. Oskar Schindler, the man who saved the lives of over 1,000 people during the Holocaust, is buried in the Catholic cemetery on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, a brief walk from the Zion Gate of the […]
Perched on the edge of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s campus in Givat Ram, the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens make up a beautiful, serene and eye-opening green space. In total, more than 10,000 species of plant life are cultivated by the university’s experts. A series of streams and ponds flows throughout, with a recreational miniature train […]
Not far from the Ein Kerem neighborhood in the southern part of Jerusalem is a forest and a memorial dedicated to the memory of America’s 35th president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963, was admired by ordinary Israeli citizens for his open support of the young country. In 1960, JFK said, “Israel […]
A satellite branch of Jerusalem’s sprawling Israel Museum, the historic Rockefeller Archaeological Museum is extraordinary both for its collection of antiquities and for the building that houses them. The Rockefeller Museum’s building itself is a white limestone structure situated in eastern Jerusalem, just outside the Old City walls. The significance of the building site dates […]
Jerusalem’s Rechavia Neighborhood of dates back to the 1920s, when it was founded on land that belonged to the Greek Orthodox Church. The plan was to build a tranquil garden neighborhood in the midst of the city center, modeled after the garden cities of Europe. To maintain this vision, commercial property is only found on […]
Overlooking Jerusalem’s Old City, the Yemin Moshe neighborhood is named for Sir Moses Montefiore, the Jewish British banker and philanthropist whose financial support helped establish the neighborhood just outside the crowded and unsanitary Old City of Jerusalem in the middle of the 19th century. Today, the Yemin Moshe neighborhood is highly desirable for residents and […]
From 1948 until 1992, Israel’s Supreme Court met in a rented building in the Russian Compound near the Old City of Jerusalem. In 1984, the Rothschild Foundation donated money to the State of Israel to design and construct a permanent structure to house Israel’s Supreme Court. Located in Kiryat David Ben Gurion adjacent to the […]
Located amid the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Bloomfield Science Museum aims to make science and technology relevant and accessible to the general public. Using hands-on displays optimized for children’s fun, the interactive exhibits that form the core of the museum’s collections are organized around themes such as light and […]
Mount Scopus, known in Hebrew as Har HaTzofim, is located in northeast Jerusalem. Overlooking the Temple Mount, the new City and the Judean desert, Mount Scopus is famous today for being home to the humanities campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Nearly 2,000 years ago, Mount Scopus served as the military headquarters of Titus, […]
