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Slated for demolition by city planners, this architectural gem was saved by the public.
Jerusalem Day (Yom Yerushalayim) is a wonderful opportunity to revisit the unique standing, character, and beauty of Israel’s capital city. Like every city, its buildings, monuments, streets, and alleyways are testimony not only to historical events, but also to the vision of its planners. Shockingly, the first master plans of Jerusalem did not propose preserving the historic Jewish neighborhoods first built outside the Old City walls, such as Mishkenot Sha’ananim (1860) Mahaneh Yisrael (1868) and Nahalat Shiv’a (1869) even though their buildings are testimony to the courage and heroism of Israel’s early pioneers, and tell the story of the renewal of Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel. Thanks to a public outcry against the planned demolition of Nahalat Shiv’a, it was preserved in the end. Today the restored neighborhood is a bustling pedestrian area, and blends in well with other preservation and renewal projects implemented in other nearby neighborhoods in the city’s center