Conservation of the Historic Site

A government decision taken on 26 April 2009 stated, inter alia among other things, that the government would act to preserve and reconstruct the building on 16 Rothschild Boulevard in Tel-Aviv-Jaffa, as it was of national and historical importance to the people and to the state. The government would act to set up a permanent exhibit for the benefit of the public on matters related to the Declaration of Independence and the Scroll of Independence, the history of the People of Israel in the Land of Israel, and the endeavors of Meir Dizengoff.

In early 2011 a committee headed by Dr. Yehoshua Freundlich, the former State Archivist, and Mr. Reuven Pinsky, head of the National Heritage Program in the Prime Minister’s Office, chose the Tel-Aviv Municipality and the Eretz-Israel Museum as the bodies in charge of renovating the site and setting up a new modern museum. In October 2011 a new director was appointed to Beit Haatzmaut, Mr. Hezi Tzviel, to lead the planning, building, management, and operation of the future museum.

 Prior to preservation work, the ground floor and the Declaration Hall were renovated. During the work a ceramic plaque made by the artist Chava Samuel was uncovered. The plaque commemorated the event of the declaration of the State in the building. At the same time, part of the original building constructed in 1909 was found blocked; it was incorporated into the wall of the museum, designed by Carl Rubin in 1935.