About the project
The Elsie Brandt Memorial Garden is a lawn with olive trees that serves as a backdrop for the monumental Ma’alot (Staircase) sculpture created by environmental desert sculptor Ezra Orion in 1979-1980. The18-meter reinforced concrete sculpture is a common run of stairs set at a more obtuse angle than normal, creating a sharp feeling of dissonance. The large proportions and simple form enable car passengers on Herzog Boulevard to observe the sculpture as it draws an imaginative diagonal across the wadi in which it is located. Ma’alot marked the beginning of Orion’s quest to express in concrete form the human rebellion against earth-bound existence, which would later find expression in his sculpture opposite the summit of Annapurna in the central Himalayas and his work sending light beams to travel through galaxies. Together with the Hannah Garden, the Elsie Brandt Memorial Garden marks the eastern entrance to the Givat Mordechai neighborhood.
