Landscape Information
Designed by Shlomo Aronson and completed in 1989, this nearly mile-long promenade was a gift to the city of Jerusalem from Mrs. Gitta Sherover in memory of her son. Overlooking the Old Town of Jerusalem from the south, the promenade is connected by a grand staircase to the Haas Promenade, which was completed two years earlier by Lawrence Halprin, working with Aronson; and together with the Haas and Goldman Promenades, it forms a continuous public park from the Jabl Mukabar neighborhood at the park’s eastern terminus to Abu Tor to the north.
Built of locally quarried, tan-colored Jerusalem limestone, the promenade is lighted by wrought-iron lampposts and features three large pergolas along its course. Beginning at the south, the first pergola is located in a slight depression created to direct views toward the Mount of Olives. The pergola is supported by stone pillars and covered by a wooden slat roof with a central oculus. A stone walkway flanked by olive groves and wheat fields leads north to the second pergola, and then to the third, constructed within a large, central belvedere and set amid beds of sweet pea and santolina. The furrows of the olive groves follow the contours of the grassy slopes, evoking the region’s agricultural heritage, along with aromatic plants. As the promenade winds north, it affords further views of the Old City and the Temple Mount before finally reaching the walls of the Monastery of St. Claire. The promenade was one of four architectural works chosen to represent Israel in the Venice Architecture Biennale in 1991.
