Not only for stamps and mail

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Jerusalem's Central Post Office on Jaffa Road was designed and built by the British during the Mandate period and was opened in 1938. The most (and maybe only) interesting element of the exterior is the black basalt, brought from the Golan Heights, at the base.
By the way, the fancy kiosk you see outside is for the sale of Israel's national lottery tickets.

While waiting for your number to be automatically called for postal services, you can people-watch . . .

e.g. take a stealth shot of this Coptic priest or one of the many monks and nuns who come in.
(The Old City is just down the block.)

Or you can admire the chandeliers and the lovely marble of the counter and the floor.

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(Please click and enlarge to see the details in the photos. )

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But best of all you can study the 90 foot/27.5 meter epic mural, painted by Avraham Ofek!

President Peres commissioned the work in 1972 when he was Minister of Transport and Communications.

The Return to Zion begins with a leader (looking like Herzl) pointing the way upward to Zion and urging the frightened Jews to make aliyah. He is inspired by the ghosts of the past over his shoulder. Revival.

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Act II (sorry, not shown here) is their welcome and absorption by a group of young Israeli pioneers. But you can see some sabra cactus growing near the rock.
A native-born Israeli is known as a Sabra (thorns on the outside but is sweet and soft in the inside).

Next are scenes from the Promised Land. Here above, a house in Jerusalem, two people studying while the upstairs neighbors also dwell in peace and safety.

A rural settlement (moshav or kibbutz?), a family with their cow. Houses dotting the landscape.

The final act of this idealistic "painted movie" finds men and women working side by side picking fruit, in equality.

And in the construction crew both Arabs and Jews work together to build the house.
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You can tell that the artist grew to manhood in a kibbutz (after immigrating, on his own, from Bulgaria at age 14, in 1949). Back then the kibbutz ideals were the communal spirit, cultivating the barren land, brotherhood, and equality of all the land's inhabitants.

At the center of the mural is the walled Old City, reaching the top of the Post Office wall and even climbing upward onto the ceiling, in witness to the spiritual elevation of Jerusalem.

I love that idea!

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Hope you enjoyed your tour. For more guiding in places all around our globe, please visit That's My World Tuesday. Shalom, go in peace!

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