About the project
The Bernard M. Bloomfield Science Museum was Israel’s first interactive science museum. The museum is located opposite The Hebrew University Givat Ram campus, and is part of the Jerusalem Foundation and the university’s $25 million state-of-the-art Youth Science Complex that also includes the Joseph Meyerhoff Youth Center for Advanced Studies, the Belmonte Science Laboratories Center and the Beit Bretter Youth Hostel. The museum initially was conceived as the Open Eye Center, and over time evolved into a $5.5 million museum facility. The Foundation supported construction of the museum’s original open-plan building, which included exhibition halls, a science garden, activity rooms, a cafeteria and workshops. It supported construction of the Discovery Center, a new wing of the museum, in 2001 to double the public areas of the museum to serve its nearly 200,000 annual visitors. The center houses the Henry J. Leir Auditorium, Hirschel Hall, a professional resource center, workshops, research laboratories and administrative offices. In 2002, the Foundation added the Gideon Rafael Toddlers’ Sand Play Area, which features objects created by the Zik (Spark) Group. The Foundation supports many educational projects at the museum, including visits by children from underprivileged families and by special needs children. It also uses the museum as a place to promote coexistence, supporting a Jewish-Arab summer camp, a science enrichment program for pre-school children from east Jerusalem, the Peace Labyrinth project, and other tolerance-building activities that serve approximately 20,000 children each year.
