This stunning artist’s impression reveals a vast network of catacombs being built under Jerusalem, which will cost $50million and house 22,000 burial plots.
The crypts, which are buried under a mountain to the north-west west of the holy city, will feature a 150-yard elevator shaft and tunnels half a mile long.
Work began in 2015, and the complex should be ready for opening within two years and provide enough space for the city’s dead for the next 25 years.
The crypts, which are buried under a mountain to the north-west west of the holy city, will feature a 150-yard elevator shaft and tunnels half a mile long. Pictured is the artist’s impression
Work began in 2015, and the complex should be ready for opening within two years and provide enough space for the city’s dead for the next 25 years
The vast caverns lie beneath Har HaMenuchot Cemetery, Israel’s largest cemetery, where 150,000 people are already buried above ground. Pictured: An excavator at work
The vast caverns lie beneath Har HaMenuchot Cemetery, Israel’s largest cemetery, where 150,000 people are already buried above ground.
Arik Glazer, General Manager of Rolzur Tunneling, said: ‘We came up with this idea to provide a solution under the cemetery with burial structures, but also hidden from the eye.
‘There is not enough land and we take advantage of this.’
The project has been funded by the pre-sale of burial plots, mostly to overseas Jews, while it will be free to Israelis and covered by their insurance.
Jewish prophecy says the dead will be resurrected at the coming of the Messiah, and that those closet to Jerusalem will rise first.
Engineers have already bored holes 150 feet deep beneath the mountain. Built in 1951, Har Hamenuchot has continually expanded in size to become the country’s largest cemetery.
Arik Glazer, General Manager of Rolzur Tunneling, said: ‘We came up with this idea to provide a solution under the cemetery with burial structures, but also hidden from the eye’
The project has been funded by the pre-sale of burial plots, mostly to overseas Jews, while it will be free to Israelis and covered by their insurance
Jewish prophecy says the dead will be resurrected at the coming of the Messiah, and that those closet to Jerusalem will rise first
Prior to its creation, the Mount of Olives in the city’s east was the country’s main burial ground.
High rises featuring plots stacked atop one another are now widely embraced in Israel, as Judaism discourages cremation.
In parts of Israel, these elevated cemeteries are now the default option for the recently departed.
After some initial hesitations, and rabbinical rulings that made the practice kosher, Israel’s ultra-Orthodox burial societies have embraced the concept.
Glazer said that his project also required rabbinic approval and one of Israel’s chief rabbis even visited the site.
‘Everyone really appreciated it,’ he said, saying it revived a practice that was popular centuries ago.
‘Burials like this existed in ancient times, 1,600 to 2,000 years ago, and we have we have revived this tradition because of the lack of burial space,’ he said.
The 50 million dollar (£37 million) project, funded by Chevra Kadisha, a Jewish burial society, is expected to be completed in late 2018
When it is done, families will be able to enter the tunnels on foot or with lifts. Platforms will be built at various levels to allow easy access to the stacks of graves
In a city where archaeological digs unveil findings of international historic value, Mr Glazer’s operation took extreme precautions not to disturb ancient ruins or graves.
The 50 million dollar (£37 million) project, funded by Chevra Kadisha, a Jewish burial society, is expected to be completed in late 2018.
When it is done, families will be able to enter the tunnels on foot or with lifts. Platforms will be built at various levels to allow easy access to the stacks of graves.
‘It’s the first of its kind in the world, at least in the modern world,’ Mr Glazer said.
Experts seem to agree. This week the project was nominated for an award by the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA).
The tunnel finished as a runner-up in the ‘Innovative Underground Space Concept of the Year’ category.
Jewish men carry the prayer shawl-covered body of slain 42-year-old Israeli Yitzhak Cohen March 22, 2002 in Jerusalem’s Har HaMenuchot cemetery
This week the project was nominated for an award by the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA)