Kiryat HaMemshala

For the complex with the same name in eastern Jerusalem, see Kiryat Menachem Begin.

Kiryat HaMemshala (Hebrew: קריית הממשלה, lit. Government complex), also known as Kiryat Ben-Gurion, (lit. Ben-Gurion complex) is the government precinct of the State of Israel. It is located in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Kiryat HaMemshala.

History

 

Survey of Palestine map, 1945–1946. See area SE of the main road junction (in red), S of Romema.

 

Israel government ministries and garden under construction, 1950s

Before 1948, maps of the area drawn by the Survey of Palestine team tagged its southern part as Karm es Sila, the name indicating that it had once been a karam (vineyard) belonging to a family by the name of Sala (שלה might be originally סלע or سلع), or that the vineyard stood near a stone quarry.^{[citation needed]} The rest of the area belonged to the village of Sheikh Badr.^{[citation needed]}

In December 1949, soon after the establishment of the state, the Israeli cabinet, then headed by David Ben-Gurion, voted to move most of the country's official government institutions from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.^{[citation needed]}

Construction work began in 1950. The original plans were drawn up by the architectural firms of Munio Gitai Weinraub and Al Mansfeld, but they were not implemented.^[1] The complex was designed by architects Richard Kauffmann, Joseph Klarwein and Heinz Rau.^{[citation needed]}

As of today, the Knesset is located in Kiryat HaMemshala, as are the Supreme Court of Israel, the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Finance, as well as the Bank of Israel.

See also

• Kiryat HaMemshala (East Jerusalem)
• Kiryat Haleom

References

1. "The Knesset building in Givat Ram: Planning and construction". Knesset.gov.

Coordinates: 31°46′51.3″N 35°12′2.48″E / 31.780917°N 35.2006889°E / 31.780917; 35.2006889