Jerusalem’s Rose Garden to undergo renewal as public space

Jerusalem city hall announced plans to renew the city’s Wohl Rose Garden, a 19-acre park with a pond and the largest rose garden in Israel,
to the tune of approximately NIS 60 million ($18.7million).

Renovation work for the park, which lies between the Knesset and the Supreme Court, at the heart of the government building complex, will include improving public access to the area and establishing a café next to the pond in the space. The café will serve employees of the government complex, Knesset visitors, and the general public.

According to the municipality’s announcement last week, all the paths will be rebuilt and the park furniture updated. The entire vegetation system will also be renewed, including bringing new life to the hundreds of rose varieties that exist in the garden area.

Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon said in the announcement last week that he wants to turn the garden into “a national, representative and symbolic district that we will all be proud of.”

The project is part of an overall municipal project to upgrade the area of Kiryat Hale’om, which includes the Knesset, Sacher Park, the Menorah Garden, the Rose Garden, and the International Convention Center.

Work on the Rose Garden is due to begin in June and will last approximately 16 months. It will run alongside work to build new bike paths and improve the landscaping and streetscape along Ruppin Road, which leads to the government complex.

An architectural rendering of a proposed renewal of the Rose Garden in Jerusalem. (Ollech + Tol Architects)

The Wohl Rose Garden was officially established in 1981, although the park has existed since the 1950s and opened to the public in the 1960s. In the early 1980s, with the support of then-mayor Teddy Kollek, the area was planted with around 15,000 rose bushes comprising about 400 different varieties from around the world.

It became a major attraction for thousands of city visitors, and a place to go for family picnics.