Model recreates Herod’s temple in Jerusalem
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In 1966, Israeli archaeologist Michael Avi-Yonah completed a model of Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem, commissioned by Hans Kroch of the Holy Land Hotel.
Avi-Yonah based his reconstruction on writings from Josephus, the New Testament, Rabbinic sources, and archaeological evidence, combining textual accounts with his knowledge of ancient architecture. The model depicts the city as it existed before Roman forces destroyed it in 70 C.E. during the First Jewish Revolt. Scholars Peter J.
Schertz and Steven Fine examined the model’s accuracy, noting the challenges of reconstructing a building described with some inconsistencies by Josephus. Josephus provided detailed accounts of the Temple, but sometimes gave differing measurements, and may have exaggerated certain features like the height of the gate doors, which he claimed were 49 feet high and 24.5 feet wide. Avi-Yonah accounted for these discrepancies by referencing similar doors found in Rome, at the Pantheon and the Senate House.
After forty years at the Holy Land Hotel, the Israel Museum restored the model in 2006 and made it a permanent exhibit. It remains a representation of Herod’s Temple, part of a larger model of ancient Jerusalem, and a subject of ongoing discussion among archaeologists and historians.
