Michael Avi-Yonah, model of Jerusalem, 1966. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Photograph by Todd Bolen.
Now on display in the outdoor sculpture garden of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem is a 1:50 (1 m = 50 m) scale model of Jerusalem and the second temple as it might have looked in the year 66 C.E. The huge topographic model opened to the public in 1966 and covers over 21,000 square feet. Michael Avi-Yonah, professor of archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, designed the model based on historical sources, including the %%writings of Flavius Josephus, a first-century C.E. Roman Jewish scholar and historian. The year 66 C.E. marked the beginning of the First Jewish Revolt, which culminated with the utter destruction of the city and the temple in 70 C.E.
