Jerusalem Re:Model

The flagship exhibition for the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem's 35th anniversary: a new model of Jerusalem in the Iron Age, the first in Israel built on current excavation data. Conrad Schick built his models from wood, and the Holyland model was built from the writings of Josephus. This one is built from the ground, from the science, and from doubt.

The 1:500 physical model is modular, so each new excavation can replace a single unit instead of starting the city over. Excavated remains and educated reconstruction are made of different materials, and the model shows openly what is known and what is assumed. Projected layers light up water systems, fortifications, trade, daily life and destruction across the same landscape, and 3D-scanned finds can be turned and handled at interactive stations.

Three stories run through the gallery: Building 100 and the international city of the 8th century BCE, the city's great expansion westward, and the water systems that let a hilltop city live without a river. The visit ends at a wall of open questions, beside the questions the excavators themselves are still working on.

A collaboration of the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University. Curation and exhibition design: Arch. Nadav Heipert. Scientific lead: Prof. Yuval Gadot, Tel Aviv University. Archaeological lead: Dr. Joe Uziel and Dr. Yiftach Shalev, Israel Antiquities Authority. Director and Chief Curator: Dr. Risa Levitt, Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem.