From ancient shards to geospatial maps, the Ronnie Ellenblum Jerusalem History Knowledge Center —a comprehensive hub for exploring Jerusalem's past and present has opened to the public—
unifies data from major knowledge centers to showcase the Holy City in innovative new ways.
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L: Jerusalem History Knowledge Center GIS presentation of layered information. R: Virtual Reality tour of Damascus Gate.
JERUSALEM, May 22, 2025 – Jerusalem, a city where history, faith and politics converge in a tapestry of extraordinary complexity – has long captured the imagination of the world. Now, a newly launched initiative is reimagining how to explore Jerusalem's vibrant heritage, history, and geography.
Using innovative technology, a new project brings to fruition the dream of a visionary left behind an enduring legacy that bridges the past and the future. The Ronnie Ellenblum Jerusalem History Knowledge Center provides free access to diverse types of knowledge across multiple categories, with the goal of creating advanced digital environments for learning and enrichment. These platforms make information accessible to audiences worldwide: scholars, researchers, students, tour-guides, tourists, creators, and anyone with a love for Jerusalem.
The Knowledge Center offers a wealth of information, including:
- Archaeological information from thousands of excavations, surveys, and documentation operations since the British Mandate period, featuring excavation reports, charts, plans, illustrations, and photographs of sites and finds.
- Historical materials: antique and historical maps, travel writings, archival materials, old and new photographs, posters, and musical works tied to Jerusalem’s history.
- Modern media: including hundreds of photographs, videos and VR tours of various sites.
- Educational content: hundreds of hours of lessons and lectures by leading Jerusalem researchers
The heart of the platform is its Geographic Information Systems (GIS) search function. Each site, artifact, and historical source is tagged with a geographical reference, and all databases are seamlessly integrated into a GIS-based system. Users can define a specific area on an online map of Jerusalem, and instantly access all relevant information from the integrated databases – ranging from archaeological shards to songs about Jerusalem -- presented in a pop-up window with links to detailed resources.
The Center is supported by the GIS teams of the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Center for Computational Geography at the Hebrew University, along with the Hebrew University’s School of Engineering and Computer Science. It is hosted and overseen by the National Library of Israel, leveraging its experience in database architecture and integration, geolocation search development, digital archiving, and other advanced capabilities.
The Ronnie Ellenblum Jerusalem History Knowledge Center was established through a collaboration between the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the National Library of Israel and the Israel Antiquities Authority, with support from the Israel Ministry of Science and Technology.
Links
The Ronnie Ellenblum Jerusalem History Knowledge Center
https://www.nli.org.il/en/at-your-service/who-we-are/projects/jerusalem-history-project
About the National Library of Israel
Founded in Jerusalem in 1892, the National Library of Israel (NLI) serves as the dynamic institution of communal memory for the Jewish people worldwide and Israelis of all backgrounds and faiths. NLI holds the world's largest collections of textual Judaica, Jewish and Israeli music, maps of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, as well as world-class collections of Jewish and Islamic manuscripts, rare books, photographs, community and personal archives, and more. Along with being Israel's preeminent research library, NLI is also dedicated to encouraging audiences in Israel and around the globe to engage with its treasures through a range of innovative educational, cultural, and digital initiatives, as well as through its new landmark building, all of which reflect NLI's central values of democratizing knowledge by opening its collections and resources to as broad and diverse an audience as possible.
For more information: https://www.nli.org.il/en
