The Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel is the future building of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Ground was broken in 2010,[1] and construction began in 2012 in Jerusalem. The building will concentrate all centralized administrative offices into one structure, currently at 3 locations throughout Jerusalem: Har Hotzvim, Israel Museum, and the Rockefeller Museum.[2] The campus is being built on 20,000 square meters located between the Israel Museum and the Bible Lands Museum. It was designed by Moshe Safdie.
Building
editWhen completed, the 36,000- sq.-m. building will house offices, archaeological artifacts, archeology laboratories, the National Library for the Archeology of Israel, and serve as a museum of archaeology.[3] Construction began in 2012 with the excavation of an enormous foundation cut into a hillside so that so that the roof level entrance of the large building is at ground level between the two, existing, major museums, while the lowest floor opens onto a street at the foot of the hill.[4][5] The Antiquities Authority was formerly located in cramped quarters at the Rockefeller Museum in East Jerusalem.[5]
Rooftop mosaic exhibition
editThe roof of the building is a large plaza with views of the Jerusalem hills. Several important Byzantine-era mosaics from churches and synagogues are on permanent display; this part of the campus is open to the public while construction continues on the interior of the building the visitor's feet.[3] Displays include a 6th-century mosaic floor, discovered in an ancient synagogue in Ein Gedi featuring a curse in Judeo-Aramaic that reads: “Anyone who neglects his family, provokes conflict, steals property, slanders his friends or reveals the secret of Ein Gedi’s balsam industry is cursed.”[6][7]
References
edit- ^ "IAA offers sneak peek tours of long-awaited new campus". Times of Israel. July 1, 2024. Retrieved September 9, 2024.
- ^ "IAA offers sneak peek tours of long-awaited new campus". Times of Israel. July 1, 2024. Retrieved September 9, 2024.
- ^ a b Udasin, Sharon (9 October 2016). "Antiquities Authority building National Campus for the Archeology of Israel". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
- ^ "IAA's New Archaeological Campus Begins to Rise". Biblical Archaeology. January 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
- ^ a b Lidman, Melanie (24 June 2012). "Archeology Quarter construction begins". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
- ^ "A glimpse into history - Rockefeller Archeological Museum". Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
- ^ Bar, Aviva (2010-01-26). "Ein Gedi, A Streamlined approach". Jpost.com. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
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