Open House Jerusalem, the annual Batim Mibifnim architecture festival, will once again offer visits and tours of hundreds of private homes, public buildings, houses of worship and other sites around the capital. The event will take place over two weekends, October 15-17 and October 22-24, and is free of charge, though some tours require advance registration.

Visitors can get a first look at the preservation work on the restored Tiferet Israel Synagogue, one of the central synagogues in the Old City’s Jewish Quarter, built in 1872 and destroyed by the Jordanian Legion in 1948.

The restoration included the wall and ceiling paintings decorating the building’s interior spaces, while archaeological excavations at the site uncovered remains from the First and Second Temple periods, the Herodian, Byzantine and Mamluk periods, and up to the end of the 19th century.

The tour, led by architect Carlos Prus, will cover the complex logistics of the restoration given the limited access for transporting equipment and construction materials through the narrow alleys of the Old City.

Tiferet Israel Synagogue offers three available tours with advance registration, limited to 20 participants each. Registration opens October 9.

Participants can ogle the beautifully furnished House of Arches, a........

© The Times of Israel