 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||
|
NEOT KEDUMIM BIBLICAL LANDSCAPE RESERVE
 Neot Kedumim Biblical Landscape Reserve 625 acres of hills and valleys near the Ben Shemen Forest, halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, preserves the flora and fauna as well as the heritage of ancient Israel. The variety of activities on the Biblical Landscape Reserve turns the past into part of the present and the future. Neot Kedumim is unique throughout the world and attracts a wide variety of tourists from Israel and abroad. The reserve re-creates the physical setting of ancient Israel and its plants as they are described in the Bible and other Jewish sources, and displays a wide variety of wild plants, bushes, and trees that represent various regions in the Land of Israel, as well animals identified with the Biblical period. In contrast to nature reserves, which preserve the existing landscape, every plant, tree, and pool of water in Neot Kedumim was created by man over a period of many years in order to recreate the ancient landscape of the Land of Israel, based on the many written sources. The ecological restoration of the area, which began in the 1960s, was carried out according to the natural contours of the region and its past. For instance, pools of water to collect rainwater were built in topographic depressions; stone terraces were built along the hills, where remains of terraces from the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods were found; and vegetation, which, according to archaeological evidence flourished in the region in the past, was planted. Neot Kedumim was the brainchild of the late Dr. Ephraim and Chana Reuveni, who pioneered new ways of researching nature in the Land of Israel and developed a plan to create a garden containing plants from the Biblical and Talmudic periods. Their son, Noga, implemented their plan, and together with a staff that was equally sold on the idea, founded Neot Kedumim in the early 1970s. Together with Noga Reuveni, Yitzhak Navon, the fifth president of the State of Israel, serves as chairman of Neot Kedumim. Reuveni and the staff of Neot Kedumim won the Israel Prize in 1994 for its special contribution to the society and the state. During the Pesach holiday Neot Kedumim will host a variety of activities such as musical performances, lectures, an exhibit of hourglassses from throughout the world, and sheep sheering demonstrations. Further details may be obtained from http:///www.neot-kedumim.org.il
|
