AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Mount Herzl (Har Herzl), known in Hebrew as the Mount of Remembrance, is Israel's national cemetery and a complex of gardens, memorials, and museums perched on a hill in western Jerusalem beside the Jerusalem Forest. At its summit rests the simple black granite tomb of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, with sweeping views over both the Judean Hills and the city of Jerusalem.↗↗
Far more than a cemetery, Mount Herzl is where Israel tells its own story—through the graves of five prime ministers, the plain headstones of thousands of fallen soldiers arranged by conflict, memorials to victims of terror, and the immersive Herzl Museum. It is a place of reflection, remarkable design, and panoramic beauty that rewards any visitor willing to walk its winding pathways.↗↗
A National Story on a Hillside
The choice of this hill was no accident. In 1934, Zionist leaders had envisioned the ancient Nicanor Cave on Mount Scopus as a pantheon for the Jewish nation's great figures. But the 1948 War of Independence cut Mount Scopus off from western Jerusalem, and a new site was urgently needed. This hill—Jerusalem's tallest western peak, facing the inaccessible Mount of Olives—was selected instead. In August 1949, Herzl's remains were flown from Vienna and reburied here before an estimated 400,000 mourners. The hill was renamed in his honour, and over the decades a full complex grew around his grave.
