Dolev, D; (2001) Architecture and nationalist identity; the case of the architectural master plans for the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (1919-1974) and their connections with nationalist ideology. Doctoral thesis , University of London.

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Abstract

The Hebrew University emerged from a need to provide Diaspora Jews with higher education, and was developed by the Zionist Organization into an image of the Third Temple, a sanctuary for learning that would create a Zionist dominance in Jerusalem. The inclusion of "Hebrew" in its title indicates the University's connection with the Zionist cultural revival that intended to create a Hebrew culture and identity. Locating the University on Scopus created a new sanctifying meaning to both Mount and University. After the 1649 war the University moved to the "Nation's Quarter' on Giv'at Ram, but the devotion to the sanctified Scopus never diminished, until the 1967 war enabled the return of the University to its original location. Five different master plans were prepared for the first Mount Scopus campus, none of them fully implemented. Each presented an interpretation of the University concept that also related to prevailing styles and ideological trends. Erich Mendelsohn had a central role in the few buildings that were constructed. The second campus presented a serene and functional campus, yet its subdued affluence was quite outstanding within general deprivation. Immediately after the 1967 war a new campus was constructed on Scopus, in the form of a megastructure. The circumstances of the "return" to Scopus, of its planning and construction, as well as the effects of occupation shed light on the significance of the new campus. To some extent, the recruitment of the University to political goals and the implementation of an ideology prevented a number of architectural plans from offering designs that would first and foremost fulfil their purpose as academic institutions. Furthermore, as it has been a central national institution, at certain periods it became influential as a propaganda tool, a vocation quite alien and harmful to its true calling.

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