Mini Israel Facts for Kids

The Western Wall and Dome of the Rock at Mini Israel

Mini Israel (Hebrew: מיני ישראל) is a super cool miniature park in Israel. It's located near a place called Latrun, in the Ayalon Valley. This amazing park opened in November 2002.

The park has tiny copies of hundreds of famous buildings and places in Israel. It's a popular tourist attraction with about 350 miniature models. These models are built at a scale of 1:25. This means even a tiny skyscraper can be taller than an adult! Historic churches are taller than a child.

What You Can See at Mini Israel
How Mini Israel Started
The Amazing Models
Gallery
See also

What You Can See at Mini Israel

The park has a permanent display showing important places in Israel. These sites are special to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. They show important history, old ruins, culture, and religion. You can see places linked to different groups like Muslims, Jews, Christians, Druze, and Bedouin people. Signs in the park are in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. Most visitors to Mini Israel are from Israel.

The whole park covers a huge area, about 60,000 square meters (14.8 acres). The models themselves are spread over 35,000 square meters (8.6 acres).

The park also has:

A shop where you can buy souvenirs.
A few places to eat and rest.
A special hall for talks and meetings. Here, you can watch a film about how the park was built.

You can also get an audio guide or rent motorized buggies to explore the park.

How Mini Israel Started

Shrine of the Book

Israeli Supreme Court building

The park's main idea from the start was "See it all - small." More than 100 people worked on designing and building the models. These people came from all parts of Israeli society and different religions. Many were new immigrants from the former USSR.

The idea for the park came from an Israeli businessman named Eiran Gazit. He got the idea after visiting a famous miniature town called Madurodam in the Netherlands in 1986. Plans to build the park began in 1994. The park was created by Gazit and his partners. Yoni Shapira was in charge of creative and marketing ideas. Mike Madeson handled international projects, and Koby Plashkes was the technical director.

Building the park cost about $20 million USD. Most of the money came from two big investment groups. The Israel Tourism Office also helped with 15% of the funding. The park was built on land owned by Kibbutz Nachshon. In its first nine months, 350,000 people visited the park. You can even see Mini Israel on Google Street View since April 2012!

The Amazing Models

The park has about 350 buildings and famous places. It also includes:

30,000 tiny people figures.
500 animals.
15,000 real trees.
4,700 cars.
100 motorbikes.
14 trains.
3 helicopters.
32 airplanes.
175 ships.
230 trucks.

All the trees are real bonsai trees. They were grown and planted by a special plant nursery. The park is shaped a bit like a Star of David. Each of its six sections shows a different area or city in Israel. These areas are Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Galil, Negev, and Center.

The models were made in workshops all over Israel. They used special computer tools and research from the Mini Israel team. Most buildings are built at a scale of 1:25. This means they are 25 times smaller than the real thing.

Some models have different scales:

Nahalal is 1:250.
Orot Rabin power station is 1:50.
The walls of Jerusalem and Acre are 1:50 in length, but their height is still 1:25.
The Knesset Menorah is 1:15.

The models are made from strong materials like polyurethane or similar plastics. They also use small stones. They are painted with waterproof paint so they can handle different weather. Many models even have moving parts! You can see trains, planes, a soccer game, heavy equipment, and boats moving.