Israel’s Antiquities Authority has uploaded tens of thousands of original documents, architectural plans, maps & photographs to its newly digitized collection
1st section available includes original architectural plan for the post-renovations Church of the Holy Sepulchre & even British espionage maps.
The archaeological archive of Israel, administered by the Israel Antiquities Authority, has digitized and uploaded all of Israel’s archaeological archives to the Internet, slated to be publicly available this month.
The archive allows visitors to explore the British Mandate Period, for example, and view the impressive and original architectural plan for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre following renovations, British espionage maps from World War I and blueprints for buildings on the Temple Mount.
Because these documents are delicate and susceptible to decay, they were scanned individually and by hand. The documents in the online archive include texts, photographs, maps, and architectural plans.
The British Mandatory Department of Antiquities managed the archives before Israel’s Antiquities Authority took over.
Uploading the precious material demanded special preparation. The first stage, which includes tens of thousands of documents from Acre and Jerusalem, mostly in English, dated between 1919 and 1948, is already available for viewing here.
The Landmark Heritage Fund, an initiative of the Prime Minister’s Office, and the Antiquities Authority jointly funded the extensive project.
“The project will aid in making these treasures of knowledge more accessible to the wider community, including researchers in Israel and abroad,” said a joint statement from Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hauser and Landmark Heritage Fund director Reuven Pinsky.
“The scientific significance of this archive is invaluable,” said Antiquities Authority Deputy Director Dr. Uzi Dahari. “It is the only one of its kind in the world. These websites are a very important asset.”
View original Israel Hayom publication at: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=7097
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