The need for a new campus for the Hebrew University of Jerusalem after the loss of Mount Scopus in 1948 led to a search for an indigenous architectural design. The Canaanite school, which glorified the notion of a greater Middle East and aspired to a melding of the pre-Abrahamic cultures, was a prominent movement in both art and architecture of that period, and its style is reflected in the campus at Givat Ram. One of the Canaanite school’s tenets called for the use of local materials, along with the strong influence of early Mesopotamian art. This fountain, designed by Kosso Elul (1920-1995) and located opposite the National Library building, also built at that time, resembles an ancient watering hole where shepherds could water their flocks in tranquility. (Image by Amitay Katz, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
