Knesset building

The Knesset (Hebrew: הַכְּנֶסֶת [haˈkneset] (listen); lit. "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with the exception of checks and balances from the courts and local governments). The Knesset passes all laws, elects the president and prime minister (although the latter is ceremonially appointed by the President), approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government, among other things. In addition, the Knesset elects the state comptroller. It also has the power to waive the immunity of its members, remove the president and the state comptroller from office, dissolve the government in a constructive vote of no confidence, and to dissolve itself and call new elections. The prime minister may also dissolve the Knesset. However, until an election is completed, the Knesset maintains authority in its current composition. The Knesset meets in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.

The Knesset Menorah (Hebrew: מנורת הכנסת Menorat HaKnesset) is a bronze Menorah 4.30 meters high, 3.5 meters wide, and weighs 4 tons. It is located at the edge of Wohl Rose Park (Hebrew Gan Havradim, "Rose Garden") opposite the Knesset. It was designed by Benno Elkan (1877–1960), a Jewish sculptor who escaped from his native Germany to Britain. It was presented to the Knesset as a gift from the Parliament of the United Kingdom on April 15, 1956 in honour of the eighth anniversary of Israeli independence. The Knesset Menorah was modelled after the golden candelabrum that stood in the Temple in Jerusalem. A series of bronze reliefs on the Menorah depict the struggles to survive of the Jewish people, depicting formative events, images and concepts from the Hebrew Bible and Jewish history. The engravings on the six branches of the Menorah portray episodes since the Jewish exile from the Land of Israel. Those on the central branch portray the fate of the Jews from the biblical return to the Land to the establishment of the modern State of Israel. It has been described as a visual "textbook" of Jewish history.

The Israeli Ministry of Finance (Hebrew: מִשְׂרַד הָאוֹצָר, Misrad HaOtzar) is the main economic ministry of the Government of Israel. It is responsible for planning and implementing the Government's overall economic policy, as well as setting targets for fiscal policy, preparing the draft State Budget and monitoring implementation of the approved budget. The ministry also manages state revenues, collects direct and indirect taxes and promotes nonresident investments. In addition, the ministry conducts economic relations with foreign governments, economic organizations and the international community. The ministry regulates the state owned companies sector and the capital market, savings and insurance. The ministry is also responsible for auxiliary units for government ministries in motor vehicles, computer services, printing and government procurement.The Finance Ministry is headed by the Finance Minister, currently Betzalel Smotrich. There is also occasionally a Deputy Minister of Finance. The permanent staff of the ministry include the Director General, the department directors responsible for the Budget Department, the Accountant General, the Wage and Labor Agreements Department and the accreditation units (the Tax Authority, the Government Companies Authority, the Capital Market, Insurance, and Savings Authority and the Governmental Printer).

Wohl Rose Park (Hebrew: גן הוורדים, Gan HaVradim) is a public garden in Givat Ram, Jerusalem, located opposite the Knesset and government precinct, at the foot of the Israeli Supreme Court. The park was established in 1981. Over 400 varieties of roses are grown there, many of them gifts from countries around the world. The Wohl Rose Park covers 19 acres (77,000 m2). It is one of the few rose parks of its kind in the Middle East, where there is no rainfall in summer.The park's Garden of Nations is made up of sections donated by other countries. Each section has rose varieties characteristic of, or grown in, the respective country. The park also has an experimental section where new varieties of roses are tested for their suitability for public and private gardens in Israel.In October 2003, the Wohl Rose Park won an award for excellence in an international competition for rose gardens from all over the world. The park was proclaimed one of the eleven most beautiful rose gardens in the world. In addition to some 15,000 rose bushes, the park features expansive lawns, hills, quarries, an ornamental pond with aquatic plants and fish, a waterfall, rockeries, and sculptures. A sixth-century mosaic floor unearthed at Kibbutz Sde Nahum was installed in the park.The Knesset Menorah is located outside the park, facing the Knesset. Due to the park's location opposite the Prime Minister's Office and other government buildings, it is a choice site for Israeli demonstrators: The garden often hosts tent cities of protesters, with tables for petition signing, banners and placards.

The Bible Lands Museum (Hebrew: מוזיאון ארצות המקרא ירושלים, Arabic: متحف بلدان الكتاب) is an archaeological museum in Jerusalem, that explores the culture of the peoples mentioned in the Bible including ancient Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, Arameans, Hittites, Elamites, Phoenicians and Persians.

Sheikh Badr Cemetery (also Givat Ram cemetery) is an 8 dunams (0.80 ha; 2.0 acres) Jewish burial ground in west-central West Jerusalem. It was established as a temporary burial ground during the 1948 Arab siege of Jerusalem. Most of its military and civilian graves were transferred to Mount Herzl and Har HaMenuchot, respectively, in late 1950. The cemetery continued to accept burials up until the official opening of Har HaMenuchot in November 1951.

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, Hebrew: רשות העתיקות rashut ha-'atiqot; Arabic: داﺌرة الآثار, before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of Antiquities. The IAA regulates excavation and conservation, and promotes research. The Director-General is Mr. Eli Escusido, and its offices are housed in the Rockefeller Museum. The Israel Antiquities Authority plans to move into a new building for the National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel in Jerusalem, next to the Israel Museum.

The Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel is the future building of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Construction began in 2012 in Jerusalem, the building will concentrate all centralized administrative offices into one structure. The campus is being built on 20,000 square meters located between the Israel Museum and the Bible Lands Museum. It was designed by Moshe Safdie.

The Shrine of the Book (Hebrew: היכל הספר, Heikhal HaSefer) is a wing of the Israel Museum in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem that houses the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Aleppo Codex, among others.

The Valley of the Cross (Hebrew: עמק המצלבה Emek Hamatzlevah) is a valley in western Jerusalem, named after the Monastery of the Cross which is located in the valley.The monastery was built in the 11th century, during the reign of King Bagrat IV by the Georgian monk Prochorus the Iberian. It is believed that the site was originally consecrated in the 4th century under the instruction of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, who later gave the site to the Georgian King Mirian III of Iberia after the conversion of his country to Christianity in 327.On the valley's west side is the hill of Givat Ram, with the Israel Museum and the Knesset overlooking the valley. On its east is the neighborhood of Rehavia. The Tzofim scout movement maintains its Jerusalem headquarters in the Valley of the Cross. The Jerusalem headquarters of Bnei Akiva, a religious youth movement is also located there.

The Israel Museum (Hebrew: מוזיאון ישראל, Muze'on Yisrael) is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopaedic museums. It is situated on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, adjacent to the Bible Lands Museum, the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Its holdings include the world's most comprehensive collections of the archaeology of the Holy Land, and Jewish art and life, as well as significant and extensive holdings in the fine arts, the latter encompassing eleven separate departments: Israeli Art, European Art, Modern Art, Contemporary Art, Prints and Drawings, Photography, Design and Architecture, Asian Art, African Art, Oceanic Art, and Arts of the Americas. Among the unique objects on display are the Venus of Berekhat Ram, the interior of a 1736 Zedek ve Shalom synagogue from Suriname, necklaces worn by Jewish brides in Yemen, a mosaic Islamic prayer niche from 17th-century Persia, and a nail attesting to the practice of crucifixion in Jesus' time. An urn-shaped building on the grounds of the museum, the Shrine of the Book, houses the Dead Sea Scrolls and artifacts discovered at Masada. It is one of the largest museums in the region.

The Information Center for Israeli Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the Israeli art in Israel. Over 12,000 artists files are housed in the Center in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.