Buildings
Dispute Threatens Jerusalem Museum of Tolerance
(archrecord.construction.com - 02/27/06)
By Esther
Hecht
A dispute over moving Muslim graves
in downtown Jerusalem to make way for Frank Gehry, FAIA’s
$200 million Museum of Tolerance, threatens to delay, or possibly
end, construction on the project.
After graves were discovered on the site during early phases
of construction, two Muslim groups—Karamah, a human rights
organization, and the Al-Aqsa Company for the Development
of the Properties of the Islamic Trust—demanded that
all work be banned at the site. The museum is to be located
at the foot of downtown Jerusalem’s Hillel Street.
Israel’s High Court of Justice has granted a 30-day
temporary injunction against work at the site and has referred
the parties in the dispute to arbitration.
Rescue excavations of the graves and other antiquities by
the Israel Antiquities Authority would last several months,
according to the authority's lawyer, Yoram Bar-Sela. Such
delays occur often in Israel's capital, because "all
of Jerusalem is one big archaeological site," says Osnat
Goaz, spokeswoman for the authority.
An underground parking garage and ground-level parking lot,
built in the1960s, previously occupied much of the museum
site. The site is part of an old Muslim cemetery, which has
not been used for burial for decades. A larger part of the
cemetery lies under an adjacent park.
The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, which is building
the museum, claims it did not know about the graves before
planning construction. Spokesperson Charles Levine says that
the city and the Israel Lands Administration assured the organization
that no problems existed with the site.
The museum was originally to have been located far from the
city center, in northeastern Jerusalem. One reason for moving
it was the hope by then-mayor Ehud Olmert, who is currently
the acting prime minister of Israel, that a Gehry-designed
building would revitalize the downtown. The project, to be
built of stone in keeping with a Jerusalem ordinance, as well
as glass and titanium, will include cultural and conference
centers.
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