The Bezalel Artistic Legacy Flourishes In Jerusalem

Locals and tourists make a beeline for the Friday crafts fair outside the country’s first arts school downtown, but there is plenty to see on Bezalel Street all week long.

So much is happening in Jerusalem these days that it takes our breath away. From fabulous Teddy Park outside the walls of the Old City, to the tremendously successful First Station (restored train station from 1892), new attractions have been springing up like mushrooms.

One of our favorites is an innovative enterprise that opened in 2012. Located on Bezalel Street downtown, it is called Designers in the City and houses the workshops and galleries of young people in the fields of fashion, photography, pottery, leatherworking and industrial design.

There is nothing coincidental about the venue chosen for Designers in the City, for the first Arts and Crafts School in the country – Bezalel –was established just around the corner on Shmuel HaNagid Street in 1909. And the school’s founder, Boris Dov Schatz, built his home only a few meters away.

Soon an arts and crafts fair, mainly featuring the immensely creative works of the city’s younger set, appeared on the sidewalk next to the building. Then, the dubious coffee shop that opened with Designers in the City was replaced by the highly successful Nocturno.

 

 

Read the full article over at The Times of Israel