IAA’s New Archaeological Campus Begins to Rise

024

After nine years of anticipation, planning, digging and delays, construction of the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel began at last in June. Designed by world-renowned Israeli architect Moshe Safdie to resemble an archaeological excavation, the 20,000-square-foot campus will sit between the Bible Lands Museum and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, opposite the Knesset.

The IAA first announced the project in late 2003 and broke ground at the site in 2006.^a The process of digging the massive construction hole to a depth of eight stories brought delays and a gaping pit on the West Jerusalem hill (see photo above). With construction of the buildings now underway, estimates put completion of the campus in 2016.

In addition to housing the headquarters of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), which are currently located in the cramped Rockefeller Museum in East Jerusalem, the new complex will feature the national archaeological library, exhibition space for the IAA’s thousands of Dead Sea Scroll fragments and other excavated finds, classrooms and teaching space, a conservation laboratory, a 200-seat theater and a roof garden for displaying large artifacts such as sarcophagi and mosaics.