The architect, Daniel Mintz, leads this tour of the Hebrew University’s Givat Ram campus, which is considered one of the peaks of local contemporary architecture.  Mintz will focus on some of the iconic buildings, such as the National Library as well as the Faculty of Mathematics and Life Sciences, which was designed by the architects.

Open tour.  Reservations not required.

Efraim Shlain - a grandson of Beit Hakerem`s earliest residents and someone who has documented the neighborhood – will lead two tours in which he illustrates the planning principles advanced by the architect Richard Kaufmann and how the idea of a garden neighborhood was implemented in practice.  The tours will leave from Beit HaVa`ad, the first public building erected in the neighborhood in 1925, which houses a permanent exhibition that showcases Beit Hakerem`s history.  They will continue from there along Hechalutz Street, stopping at the home of the artist Zeev Raban (a founder of the neighborhood and one of the most prominent figures in its history), and end at David Yellin College – the Jewish teachers seminary established in 1913 and one of the symbols of this neighborhood for more than 80 years.  The tours last about two hours.

2 open tours.  Reservations not required.

Renovation architects: ADMA Architects, 2011

A visit at an apartment belonging to a couple of young architects, which they remodeled for their own family following an extended stay in Europe.  The renewed interior design of this standard tenement flat, built in the 1960s, was influenced by European housing culture and enables varying uses of spaces thanks to the owners` smart and creative design solutions.

Open house.  Reservations not required.

Activities for the whole family at the Jerusalem Municipality`s road safety training center, where traffic signs, traffic lights, streets, sidewalks, and other elements that simulate urban transportation have been installed in different lots.  This is an opportunity to refresh your memory about the safety rules governing the use of the mass transit system, pedestrian crosswalks, and bike riding, and to practice them together with the kids.

 Bicycles for use during the activities can be obtained at the center.

Advance reservations are required for the training sessions: 02-6791639.

Architects: Guggenheim-Bloch Architects in cooperation with Mintz-Melamed Architects. Interior architecture: Irit Guggenheim, 2012

A tour of the new wing of the International School for Holocaust Studies, led by the project`s architects, David Guggenheim and Daniel Mintz.  The new wing, which spreads across an area of roughly 5,000 square meters, is located on a steep slope on the edge of Yad Vashem`s research, education and documentation campus.  The luminous building has transparent glass windows – uncharacteristic of Jerusalem stone architecture – which offer an unobstructed view of the landscape. The building houses classrooms, offices, and Yad Vashem`s main auditorium that seats about 320 people.  A discussion regarding commemoration architecture will be held at the end of the tour.

Open tour and open discussion. Reservations not required.

Architects: Genia Averbuch, Yehoshua Salant, 1923-1950; Preservation, renovation and added wing of the Pioneer Women House: Ada Carmi Architects, 2011

Guided tours of the Ben Zvi Institute compound, including a visit at the historic shack used by Israel`s presidents in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as the adjacent and recently renovated Pioneer Women House, which was formerly a home for Hebrew pioneer women and currently houses the International School for Jerusalem Studies.

The tours will start every hour on the hour.  At 11:00 there will be tour and gallery talk with the exhibition curator, Dr. Nirit Shalev-Khalifa.

Open tours and open exhibition. Reservations not required.

An open house at an 85 square meter apartment in Rehavia, which was totally revamped and remodeled by this young couple who are architects and live there with their family.  This contemporary style white and well-lit apartment manages, with the help of its transparent walls, to create a space that radiates a sense of openness and roominess.

Open house.  Reservations not required.

zarka.arch@gmail.com

Tzippy Ron – the former director of the Jerusalem branch of the Society for the Protection of Nature and the Council for the Preservation of Historic Sites in Jerusalem, and a citizens’ representative on the Municipal Preservation Committee since its establishment in 1994 – will be leading this tour. She will attempt to trace the retrospective development of preservation processes in Jerusalem starting in the 1970s and up to the present.  Ron will illustrate how municipal preservation plans have been implemented in the field and also address future preservation trends in the city.

Advance reservations required; the tour is limited to 40 participants.

In the minds of most Israelis, International Style architecture is typically associated with Tel Aviv.  But this tour, led by Shlomit Gross from the Bauhaus Center, will unveil the surprising wealth of Bauhaus homes that were built in Jerusalem during the 1920s and 1930s, primarily in the Rehavia neighborhood.  The tour will focus on some of the solutions devised by the architects of the period to preserve the features of the Bauhaus style: arched forms, narrow horizontal windows, concrete awnings and flat roofs – which took into account the regulations governing the use of Jerusalem stone in local construction and the steep topography.

The tour is based on the book Bauhaus in Jerusalem, written by the German architect Ulrich Knufinke, and includes these and other stops: the Schocken Library (architect: Erich Mendelsohn), the Bonem residence (architect: Leopold Krakauer) and the workers` quarters on Even Shaprut Street (architects: Avraham and Zippora Charniak).  The tour lasts about an hour.

Open tour.  Reservations not required.

A tour with Yisrael Galon, the Forest Commissioner at the Ministry of Agriculture.  He will talk about the overall contribution trees make to the urban domain and the stories associated with them, and about the importance of old trees, in particular.  The tour includes the ancient cedar on Ahad Ha`am Street, the silk trees along Jabotinsky Street, the carob trees on Marcus Street, and other old trees planted 80-120 years ago.  The tour ends at Hurshat Hayareach (Moon Grove), from which old trees at the HansenHospital compound and Natural History Museum can be observed.

Open tour. Reservations not required.

Architect: unknown, 1933

A rare opportunity to visit the home of the author Haim Hazaz, and see where he lived and worked between 1961 and 1973.  The apartment has been preserved exactly as it was built, with its decorated tiles, original wooden doors and windows, and large open spaces characteristic of Talbieh construction in the 1930s.  The author`s study and huge library have been preserved as well.  The tour also includes the Haim Hazaz Heritage Memorial – a literary museum and archives located on the ground floor.

Advance reservations required; each of the 3 tours is limited to 20 participants.

Architect: Arthur Loomis Harmon, 1933

The top of the observation tower at the Jerusalem International YMCA, one of the most beautiful buildings in the city, features a 35-bell carillon, arranged in three octaves – a carillon the likes of which cannot be found anywhere in the entire Middle East.  At this unusual gathering, open to the public, Prof. Gaby Shefler will talk about the special carillon and play a carillon arrangement of Hebrew songs.

* The audience will listen to the concert from the garden.

Open concert. Reservations not required.

Architects: Nadler-Nadler-Bixon, Main Wing, 1971; Added wing, 1986

Two tours of the auditoriums and foyers at the Jerusalem Theatre, both front stage and backstage, including: the Sherover Theatre, the Henry Crown Symphony Hall, the Rebecca Crown Auditorium, the Little Theatre, the stages, control rooms, dressing rooms, and more.  A chance to see the vast spaces that are needed to run a theatre.  The tours last about an hour.

Advance reservations required; each of the 2 tours is limited to 40 participants.

Architect: unknown, 19^th century

Come and see this villa that was built for a wealthy Armenian merchant by the name of Decan, designed as a luxurious estate surrounded by a huge garden.  After serving for decades as the official residence of Jerusalem`s Ottoman and British governors, the house is replete with relics suggestive of its previous grandeur.  It currently houses the Natural History Museum, which is Jerusalem`s oldest museum.

At 10:30 and 11:30 there will be tours of the compound led by Valentina Nelin, a sustainable (green) building consultant, who will talk about the ecological qualities of the villa, which was originally designed as a passive solar building ideally suited to Jerusalem`s climate.  Baby carriages, food and beverages are not allowed in the Museum.

Open house and open tours. Reservations not required.

The leading community garden in Jerusalem opens its gates for two days, allowing visitors to become acquainted with the people who run it, the fruit trees, the spice plant and vegetable garden beds, the rehabilitative nursery, the water cistern, the community café, and organic agriculture techniques.  On Thursday – the day on which local residents work in the garden every week - visitors will be invited to take part in the activities, followed by a communal supper.  On Saturday there will be guided tours in addition to workshops and activities dealing with recycling and sustainability, which are also suitable for children.  There`s no need to bring any food from home.

Open garden.  Reservations not required.

Architect: Theodor Sandel, 1884

A visit at a church which hides behind stone walls at the entrance to the German Colony, and an opportunity to hear the student choir of the Armenian Theological Seminary in Jerusalem, who will be performing there during the weekly prayer service.  The church, which was built by the Templars as a community center, later became a club for British officers during the Mandate Period, and since 1949 serves the Armenian community in West Jerusalem.  The compound includes a German social hall that was converted into an unassuming church imbued with period atmosphere, a clock tower, an altar, a courtyard lined with 100-year-old pine trees, and a fish pond.

Open house.  Reservations not required.

Architect: Karl Hermann Imberger, 1893

A rare tour of this closed compound situated behind a stone wall, originally built by Catholic nuns belonging to the Order of St. Charles Borromeo (a 16^th century cardinal) as a shelter for the old and needy.  At the end of the 19^th century, the nuns also extended aid to those afflicted by the Bubonic plague.  In 1905, the building was converted into a school for girls, and during the Second World War offered refuge to the 140 German nuns who were in the country at the time.  After the war ended, the building`s original function was reinstated – namely a shelter for the old and needy, but this time it was Holocaust survivors who the nuns took under their wing.  In the 1990s, the building changed its purpose once again and became a hostel for pilgrims.

The tour, led by Hana Bendcowsky from the JerusalemCenter for Jewish-Christian Relations, will talk about the history of the compound and include a visit at the church and spacious courtyard.

6 tours limited to 40 participants each, on a first come, first served basis. 

Reservations not required.