A $3 million grant has given new impetus to Israel Antiquities Authority’s national campus project which has been stuck in the budget quagmire of national politics for three years.
IAA director Eli Eskozido said the grant, from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, will allow the authority to move to their Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel by the end of 2022.
Half of the budget for the campus is from government funds, and the other half has come from donations.
Located on Museum Hill in Jerusalem between the Israel Museum and the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem, most of the 10-story, 360,000 square foot building, is hidden from view.
It will serve as the headquarters for the IAA, and its excavation projects around the country and includes functional spaces such as conservation laboratories, archives, a library, offices, vaults and storage as well as public spaces with exhibition galleries, the National Library for the Archaeology of Israel and bridges overlooking the IAA laboratories allowing the public a view at the work being done there.