The presentation activities
actually encompassed three locations within the Jerusalem Archaeological
Park, dating back two millennia and all adjacent to the Temple Mount atop
which sits the golden Dome of the Rock. All of the sites being used
were originally built by King Herod and destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE
(AD).
Guests first assembled for a reception on
a landing at the top of a monumental staircase (now partially restored)
along the southern wall of the Temple Mount enclosure in an area that originally
provided access to one of the entrances of the Temple Mount. From
the reception area, it was a short walk to a more recent excavation site
at the southwest corner of the Temple Mount, a place designated as the
Herodian Street, a main thoroughfare during the Second Temple Period Jerusalem.
Guests were seated in chairs placed on the
ancient paving, directly under what remains of a tremendous arch that supported
stairs leading to the Temple some 2000 years ago. The arch was discovered
and identified by American Bible Scholar Edward Robinson in 1839.
It was in this spot that the Mayor of Jerusalem, Ehud Olmerrt, welcomed
the guests, followed by brief remarks by Pritzker Jury Chairman J. Carter
Brown, and the presentation of the prize by Hyatt Foundation President
Thomas J. Pritzker. Rem Koolhaas then made his acceptance remarks.
Guests then adjourned to another area just
a few hundred feet away, the Umayyad Palace Courtyard where dinner was
served.
