Scienceמיכאל אבי-יונה

Michael Avi-Yonah

Michael Avi-Yonah was an Israeli archaeologist and art historian who taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and designed the Holyland Model of Jerusalem.

1904 to 1974The Holyland Model of JerusalemClassical and Byzantine archaeologyHistorical geography of the land

Born: 26 September 1904, Lviv
Died: 26 March 1974, Jerusalem
Occupation: anthropologist, art historian, archaeologist, pedagogue
Education: University of London, Kenyon Institute

Michael Avi-Yonah was born in 1904 in Lviv

Avi-Yonah was born Julius Buchstab in Lviv in 1904, the only child of Solomon, a lawyer and Zionist activist, and Tilla, a teacher. The family moved to Palestine in 1919 and settled in Jerusalem in 1921, where his father chose the surname Avi-Yonah.

He finished the Rehavia Gymnasium in 1923 and studied classical history and archaeology at the University of London, earning a BA in 1928. He then studied at the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem and took part in digs at Tel el-Ajjul and the Ophel.

He joined the Department of Antiquities of the British Mandate as a librarian and records officer and edited its journal. After 1948 he served as research secretary of Israel's Department of Antiquities until 1953.

In 1953 he became a lecturer at the Hebrew University, and he was made a full professor in 1963. He wrote on ancient art and the historical geography of the land and guided the building of the model of Second Temple Jerusalem, opened in 1966.

He received the Bialik Prize in 1955 and the Ben-Zvi Prize in 1971. He died in Jerusalem in 1974.