About the project
The Beth Shalom Garden, originally called Zion Garden, is located between Zion Gate and Dung Gate, outside the southern wall of the Old City. The garden, designed by Shlomo Aronson, is both a recreational park with footpaths, benches and landscape features, and an archeological garden, in which numerous archeological remnants are interpreted for the public. The site had been abandoned for hundreds of years, and previously had served as a garbage dump. After 1967, archeologists unearthed many important finds that were restored, partially reconstructed and incorporated into the park, including a Crusader line of fortification, Tanners’ Gate, a paved road and private houses from the Second Temple Period, a corner of the Nea Church, remnants of what was believed to be a hospice or hospital that was part of the church complex, and aqueducts dating from between the Second Temple Period and the Turkish Period. The Beth Shalom Movement supported the project in response to UNESCO’s condemnation of archeological excavations near the southern walls.
