About the project
Homage to Jerusalem was the last great outdoor sculpture created by Alexander Calder (1898-1976), one of the most acclaimed and influential sculptors of our time. Calder’s outdoor sculptures, which were created on a grand scale from bolted sheet steel grace public plazas in cities throughout the world. Homage to Jerusalem is a red-painted, multi-arched sculpture that frames the Judean Hills. Calder called the sculpture a stabile, in contrast to his well-known mobiles. He conceived the work on his visit to Jerusalem in 1975 and, after returning to his studio in Sache, France, chose the precise location and angle at which he wanted the sculpture erected. The sculpture has a light, open side, with high arches through which one views the panorama, and a sealed, heavy side that reminds one of an animal’s tail. The sculpture was completed after the artist’s death in 1976. In 2004, the 60-ton sculpture that had been transported to Israel in 36 pieces, was dismantled, moved and re-erected temporarily at a nearby location to allow for construction of the city’s new light rail system. After three years, on night of the 12th of March 2008 the towering red Calder stabile was returned to its original Mount Herzl location .
