A new project to beautify the “Jewel of Jerusalem,” the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, is underway. The unveiling ceremony was attended by Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze'ev Elkin. "The Jewish Quarter is the jewel of the Old City and it is time that this section be more beautiful, ” Elkin said. “We operate in all parts of the Old City – by making roads accessible to tourists, improving the streets and strengthening Israeli sovereignty, and now we have reached the jewel in the crown – the Jewish Quarter," he added.

Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon also took part in the ceremony. "In spite of everything that the Jewish people have gone through, we have returned here. The children of Jerusalem play here,” Leon said. “We will do everything to preserve the present, to remember the past, and to work for the future. The future of our children is here in the Jewish Quarter, in Jerusalem and in Israel," the mayor stressed.

Renovations of the Jewish Quarter will include work on a Western Wall elevator, the Herodian Museum, the Burnt House, the Great Wall, the area’s parks and the Jerusalem Mosaics Project. Herzl Ben Ari, the CEO of the Jewish Quarter Development Company managing the project, said: "I hope that anyone who reaches the Jewish quarter in Jerusalem will feel that we have fulfilled his dream and that every guest and tourist from all over the world will feel the uniqueness and the eternal values ​​of the capital of Israel."

The rebuilt Hurva Synagogue in the heart of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)