A general view of the city of Jerusalem as it looked in 1st century CE.

JERUSALEM — Ever since it was relocated from the Holyland Hotel to the Israel Musuem in Jerusalem in June 2006, the 1:50 scale model of the city of Jerusalem as it was in 1st century CE, attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year.

In its original setting in the grounds of the former Holyland Hotel in Beit Vegan, the 2000 square meter model was constructed between 1964 and 1967. At the end of 2004 the owner of the Holyland Hotel, Hillel Cherni, decided to redevelop the site of the hotel and move the model to another location.  Cherni offered the model to the Israel Museum, who almost immediately accepted the opportunity.  They located the model next door to the Shrine of the Book which houses the ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’.
 
In the beginning of 2005 work started to transfer piece by piece the intricate model which had, as its center piece, an outstanding reproduction of the Second Temple.  Visitors can walk around the model from a high vantage point and see the magnificence of the city just before it was destroyed by the Romans in 70CE.  As more information becomes available as to the archaeological record of the city, the model in updated accordingly.

The view looking westward of the ‘Holy of Holies’ as the last rays of the sun catch this highest point in the city, just as it looked two thousand years ago. [Isranet photos]