The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Compound in the Entrance to the City, 1963.
More of once upon a time in Jerusalem.
To the right, the narrow road is today’s Agripas Street, and in the center of the picture is Jaffa Street. The old Shaare Zedek compound is in the middle of the picture, with the Schneller camp above and to the left.
Anyone visiting the area today would find it hard to believe that this is what the area looked like just over sixty years ago.
The beautiful historical houses have disappeared, and in their place stands the Ministry of Foreign Affairs compound with its barracks and sloping roofs, transformed into the Mishkenot Ha’uma neighborhood, with hundreds of housing units built in the last decade in dense radius.
The empty area to the left of the old Shaare Zedek compound is now undergoing excavation and construction for the City Entrance Quarter with towers ranging between 25-40 stories are being built, that will have a mix of offices, hotels, government offices, commercial, and residential units.
The Train station from tel aviv is located nearby. Jaffa Street has become the light rail route, and Agripas Street has become the main artery for traffic to the Mahane Yehuda market.
The Schneller camp, well known to senior Jerusalemites and the “jobniks” (non- combatant soldiers) among us, has become an exclusive residential neighborhood for wealthy Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) families from around the world. The old Shaare Zedek compound, having been purchased a few years ago for over half a billion shekels, is now being excavated and will be developed into a complex combining residences, hotels, offices, theaters, and a modern complex built of four towers, a concept that has yet to be seen in the city.
Today, the barren hills have donned a dress of concrete and cement, and all the residents from the houses in the picture could live in a single new tower.
This is Jerusalem—
New alongside old, glorious history alongside modern renewal, old roads alongside light rail routes, watermelon stalls at the beginning of Agripas Street alongside 40-story modern towers—all blending together in the most fascinating city in the world.
Shabbat Shalom to all, near and far
❤ and may peace come to Israel🎗
Courtesy of the photo collection of Yitzhak Saad, of blessed memory, who captured Jerusalem and the land through a lens filled with love.
