Planning
and Construction
 Planning
the Government Center and Initial Ideas about the Location of the
Park (1949-1952)
Documents in the State
Archives describe the early stages of planning the new government
center in Jerusalem. It transpires from these documents that even
in the initial stages of planning there was a demand for a prestigious
park at the heart of the government center.
The location
of the park was also chosen at an early stage, as can be seen
from a 1950 map entitled "Jerusalem-Proposal for the Area
of the Government Buildings." The words "green area"
appear at the center of the proposed government center.
One year later,
in 1951, the plans for the government center in Jerusalem were
presented to the Government Center Committee; they included the
layout of the buildings and allocation of the land on which a
"government center park" appears in the exact location
of today's Rose Park.
It is interesting
to note that, although the general plan for the government center
was only partially implemented at the time, when the Supreme Court
was finally built in the early 1990s, it was erected on the very
site assigned to it in 1951.
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The
central pergola (archive photo)
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The
central pergola today
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The
central pergola today |
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Planning
by Meir Victor (1951-1952)
The first meeting of
the planning committee of the government center gardens, chaired by
Meir Victor, who was at the time the government center's landscape
architect, took place on January 16, 1951. (It should be remembered
that in the first years of statehood, Israel's center of government
was in Tel Aviv and it was only later transferred to Jerusalem.)
At that meeting,
Victor presented his plans to those present, who expressed their
opinions and raised problems regarding issues such as the entrance
to the park, the gradient of paths and plazas, the location of the
steps, the use of walls, and how to take advantage of the quarries,
the problem of soil erosion, tree planting, and more.
The landscape
architect Yechiel Segal was invited as a consultant to the second
meeting of the committee. In the fullness of time, his son, Joseph
Segal would be commissioned to re-plan the park as the Wohl Rose
Park of Jerusalem. Yechiel Segal expressed his opinion on the plans,
suggested improvements, and raised issues to be checked. All present
noted that it was difficult to plan a park that bordered on buildings
for which the plans had not been finalized (i.e., the Knesset and
the government ministries, which were still being planned at that
time) and agreed on the need to leave an open area so that all the
elements would harmonize when the buildings had been constructed.
A document produced by the Prime Minister's Office on April 5, 1951
describes the start of the building of the government center.
"Forestry and Parks
At the end of 1949, the planting of trees in the valleys of the
government center began. This work has continued throughout the
years and to date nearly 220 dunams [55 acres] have been planted.
At the end of 1950, earthwork began for the central park, which
will cover 60 dunams [15 acres]. So far, over 30 dunams have been
prepared-the land leveled, quarries filled in, support walls built,
garden soil laid down, and so forth and this work is still continuing.
Planting of trees and plants has also begun, and a nursery has been
set up on site for plants for most of the area of the park and for
forestation."
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path that would become the Supreme Court-Knesset axis (archives) |
The
Supreme Court-Knesset axis today
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As stated, in its
early years, the park was used for state ceremonies only and was closed
to the general public. At a certain point in the 1960s (it is not
clear exactly when), the park was opened to the public and additional
furniture, such as benches and trashcans, was added. The 1968 Master
Plan for Jerusalem drawn up by Aviya Hashimshoni notes:
"Urban recreation areas: In addition to
the urban parks from the Mandate period, three spacious parks have
been developed in the city:
Independence Park in the city center;
Sacher Park in the Rehavia valley;
The President's Park at the government center.
The latter is used for state occasions only."
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The
pergola (archive photo)
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In Ze'ev
Vilna'i's book The New Jerusalem and its Environs (Hebrew) (1976),
he noted that there was a copy of the American Liberty Bell in the
park. (The bell was transferred to the Liberty Bell Garden, when it
was built in 1978.) Mention is also made of the Seven-Branched Menorah
and a sixth-century mosaic floor that was brought to the park from
Kibbutz Sede Nahum.
According
to various testimonies, in the 1970s, the park was somewhat neglected
and Jerusalemites remember it chiefly as a place for scout camps during
which rope-climbing competitions were held above the large pond.
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The
Garden of the Nations (archive photo)
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The
Garden of the Nations (archive photo)
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The
Garden of the Nations today
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