Historical Timeline
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1903
Professor Boris Schatz proposes establishing an arts and crafts school in the Land of Israel to Theodore Herzl.
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1905
The Seventh Zionist Congress in Basel passes a resolution to establish the "Bezalel" School of Art.
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1906
Professor Schatz establishes the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem.
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1908
The Bezalel School moves to new buildings, adds new departments expands its scope of activities.
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1914
With the advent of World War I, Bezalel faces political, financial and management difficulties.
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1917
The Turks deport Boris Schatz. Bezalel shuts down until British General Allenby enters Jerusalem in late 1917.
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1918
Schatz returns. The School resume’s instruction in painting and sculpture along with carpet making, metalworking and woodcarving crafts.
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1929
With Bezalel in financial difficulty, Schatz travels abroad to raise funds and the School closes down temporarily
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1932
Schatz dies in the U.S. while on tour with a roving exhibition of works by Bezalel’s artists.
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1935
The New Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts opens headed by renowned Berlin print artist Josef Budko.
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1940
Josef Budko dies. The artist Mordechai Ardon, a disciple of the Bauhaus school, succeeds him.
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1947
Bezalel’s enrollment booms. For the first time, the new students include are concentration camps survivors.
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1948
The State of Israel is founded. Bezalel expands it curriculum and becomes Israel’s premier academy of arts.
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1952
Sculptor Zeev Ben-Zvi is named to head Bezalel. Israel’s government begins to provide funding to the School.
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1953
Ben-Zvi is succeeded by Yaakov Steinhardt, followed by Yerahmiel Schechter, Yitzhak Aschheim and Felix Darnell.
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1955
The New Bezalel School is declared an Academy of Art, enrollment exceeds 200, the building is expanded.
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1958
The Bezalel Academy of Art receives the Israel Prize on the occasion of Israel’s tenth Independence Day.
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1965
New Bezalel Head Dan Hofner works intensely to change the school’s legal, financial and academic status.
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1969
The Council for Higher Education recommends the school become The Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design.
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1975
Bezalel awarded status of an academic institution. Graduates receive B.A. degrees appropriate to their discipline.
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1981
The Photography Department’s curricular program qualified for a Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) degree.
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1983
The Environmental and Industrial Design Department split. The Environmental Design Department requests permission to award a degree in Architecture.
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1990
All Bezalel’s departments and administrative offices move to a newly constructed building on Mount Scopus.
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1993
In a Bezalel first, Architecture Department graduates awarded a Bachelor of Architecture (B. Arch.) degrees.
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1998
On Israel’s 50th anniversary, Bezalel launches the “Continuity & Change” exhibition in Jerusalem.
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2002
Bezalel’s request to launch a master’s degree programs in Fine Arts and Industrial Design is approved.
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2003
A Fashion Design Program a Cinematography, Video & New Media Unit approved. Professor Arnon Zuckerman named President.
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2005
The Ministerial Committee on Jerusalem Affairs allocates a plot in central Jerusalem the for Bezalel’s relocation.
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2006
Bezalel's 100th Anniversary celebration opens with an exhibit on Professor Boris Schatz at the Israel Museum.
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2007
Bachelor of Screen-Based Arts program approved; request for a Master of Fine Arts Theory and Policy program submitted.
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2009
The Architecture Department’s Master of Urban Design program is approved.
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2010
Bezalel’s Architecture Department lauded as one of Israel’s leaders for its intellectual, social and cultural approach.
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2011
The Council for Higher Education approves the Bezalel Campus move to the Russian Compound in central Jerusalem.
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2012
Bezalel wins the Council for Higher Education's Shosh Berlinski Schoenfeld Prize for Social Involvement in the Community.
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2013
For the first time in Israel, the Council for Higher Education authorizes an academic orthodox religious Bezalel extension.
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2014
The Bezalel and the Jerusalem Development Authority Center for Digital Media and Design opens with degree programs.
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2015
The Japanese architectural firm SANAA’s plans for the new campus are approved. Prof. Adi Stern is named President.
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2019
Construction of campus begins. The academic year opens with 2300 students, 500 faculty members and 14 Departments.
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2020
The Department of Visual & Material Culture is established offering a new theoretical bachelor degree. Prof. Adi Stern’s term as President is renewed.
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2023
Bezalel moves to its new residence in the center of Jerusalem. The move to the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Campus marks Bezalel’s historic return to the heart of the city and constitutes a historic landmark for the Academy and for Jerusalem, bringing thousands of art, design and architecture students to live, study, create and operate in the heart of the city and its community. Stretching over 42,00 square meter, the building was designed by the Japanese architectural firm SANAA, winner of the Pritzker international architectural competition and one of the leading architectural firms in the world, in collaboration with Israel’s HQ Architects. This move creates an urban campus which includes the Historic Building where the School of Architecture resides, and the Bezalel dorms, all within a short walking distance from each other.