New mural to be placed in Ben Gurion Airport
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will unveil a new mural covering 44 meters of the entrance to Ben-Gurion Airport's Terminal 3 in a special ceremony on Tuesday.
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Every Israeli citizen or tourist entering the country will come face to face with the impressive mural, which was gifted by Mexico in celebration of the Jewish state's 75th Independence Day.
Last week, Israel Airport Authority personnel hung the giant painting using cranes and then covered it.
The inauguration ceremony of the mural will also be attended by Transportation Minister Miri Regev, World Zionist Organization Chairman Yaakov Hagoel, and Isaac Assa, founder and president of the Israel-Latin American Network (ILAN) – a foundation promoting relations between Israel-Latin America, who worked to bring the mural to Israel.
The 5-meter-high mural was painted by the acclaimed Mexican artist Julio Carrasco Breton, who took on the challenge of depicting 4,000 years of Jewish history.
The artwork is titled "Am Yisrael Chai" (The people of Israel live). The mural tells the story of the Jewish people from the creation of the first human, through the formation of the people of Israel, prominent Jewish figures, the Exodus, the Temple and the Jewish kingdoms.
The mural continues into pre-modern and modern times, presenting the expulsions from Spain, the Hasidic movement, Zionist activists beginning with Theodor Herzl, Abraham Isaac Kook and Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, the Holocaust, immigration to Israel, and the state's founding.
A highly significant part of the piece tells Israel's 75-year story through its art, development, wars, innovation, landscapes, roads, leaders, scientists, intellectuals, local culture and significant events that helped shape the country.
Among the individuals depicted in the mural are Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, Naomi Shemer, Yitzhak Navon, Ilan Ramon, Reuven Rivlin, Shimon Peres, Golda Meir, Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Chaim Weizmann, Isaac Herzog, Dana International, Yehoram Gaon and Noa Kirel.
Additionally, the mural features Israeli landmarks such as Azrieli Towers, Weizmann Institute of Science, Hadassah Medical Center, the entrance gate to Jerusalem, the Technion and the Knesset building.
"Together with the ILAN foundation and heads of the ILAN communities in Latin America, we’ve achieved the most comprehensive and detailed artistic documentation project in the history of the Jewish people and the world." ILAN head Isaac Assa said.
Isaac Assa"In fact, Israel is the only place in the world where the heritage and history of a people are concentrated in one accessible and artistic location, which anyone can understand, get excited about, and identify with it," he said.
"The people of Israel have come a long way, and the Jewish people have contributed values of morality, social solidarity and innovation to all of humanity. Anyone who enters Israel will be able to see with their own eyes the story of Israel's contribution to the world," he added.