Until the mid-19^th century, Jerusalem was a congested and often daily city inside its 16^th- century walls. In 1860, the seeds of an entirely new city were sown: English philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore built a row of buildings outside the city walls and invited his fellow Jews to move into new quarters. It took some time, for the people were frightened of robbers, wild animals, and had never slept outside a protected city wall.

Today, West Jerusalem boasts a mind-boggling collection of picturesque neighborhoods, educational institutions, and cultural establishments. A diverse assortment of people live in West Jerusalem, ranging from black-coated Jews who ignore the existence of the Jewish State to secular Jews who frequent East Jerusalem restaurants during the Yom Kippur fast. In his wildest imagination, no traveler to Jerusalem in an earlier age could have conjured up a picture of what Jerusalem has become.

Worthy of special mention are the world-famous Israel Museum and its Shrine of the Book, the unique Bible Lands Museum, the Parliament and splendid new Supreme Court building. The Hebrew University at Givat Ram ("lofty heights") was constructed when Jerusalem was divided and its exquisite university on Mount Scopus made off limits to the city’s students.

Perhaps the most impressive and memorable complex in West Jerusalem is the Mount of Remembrance. Within its confines fallen soldiers and Leaders of the Nation are laid to rest in the landscaped setting of Mt. Herzl; the buildings that make up that monumental testimony to the Holocaust Museum of Yad VaShem are located only a few meters away.