This extraordinary replica of the Walled City of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period is at the Museum of Israel. It is outdoors and one can walk around (but not in) it. It gives an extraordinary sense of what the city was like before the Romans destroyed it in 66CE (those Romans!). One can see the public spaces, the homes, even the waterway.
A crow landed on the replica while I was walking around it, looking like an outsized bird giant. While there were no model people there, one could imagine them, living, working, playing, and worshiping. It also gave a sense of what it must have been like to come inside these massive walls, and then into the walled temple area. Walls within walls, defining spaces for different purposes. It also helps to place bits of modern Jerusalem, which is an archeological jumble of different eras from various conquerors. –Ruth Mary Hall
Replica of the Walled City of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period
