Yad VaShem
Posted: March 19th, 2010 | Author: Gergana Milusheva | Filed under: trips and notes | No Comments »our journey around the ancient city began and will end with modern architecture
I have done my homework and this place is on my short “do not miss!” list of modern architecture spots around Israel; well, we are not going to miss it; we cross Jerusalem once again and the last rays of the setting sun shine over the door-keeper’s face who asks us where we come from; the answer “Bulgaria” works like “Open, Sesame” and triggers a shining smile…
we pass under the arch and we find ourselves here
it is already 6:30 pm but we have come on the only day when this place works until 8:00 pm; awesome! wiki explains the meaning of Yad vaShem with the following passage from the bible:
“And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name (Yad VaShem) that shall not be cut off.”
A Memorial and a Name.
The Holocaust.
(from Greek: holos – complete(ly), kaustos – burned)
it is difficult to describe a place such as this one; you have to experience it; this distinguishes good architecture from the rest… I will spare you my impressions of the exhibition that we, literarily, passed by on the run and I will show you some pictures (some of them not mine – picture-taking is not allowed inside)
the reception building with a front desk, wardrobe and a café…
it is a transit building; on the way out, this is what we find in front of us
this could be seen at a different time of day
but this is the view we see
the complex looks like this from above
and, of course, we cannot do without a blueprint
the exhibition goes in a zigzag through the triangular tunnel
shortly before the end of it, there is the round hall, to the right
the cone, looking up
there is a deep well underneath as if carved out of the rock (I could not find a picture of it)
there are black file-cases with alphabetized names in them arranged on the shelves around the periphery of the hall…
the exit
night-time Jerusalem is on the other side of the glass railing
we would have seen this during the day
(the night view was worth it, right!)
the way back passes through this garden which is surrounded by tall walls (hmmm, I wonder why they remind me of another garden in distant Berlin…)
on one side of it, there is an entrance to a synagogue
there a multiple buildings (big and small) as well as memorials and sculptures (like the one below) scattered around the territory of Yad VaShem
and an eternal flame hall
no visit to Israel would be complete without a visit to this museum.
and the road of modern-day Israel passes right through the middle of it…
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