The site is closed for reconstruction works.
In December 1948, Uriel Hefetz conceived the idea of an airlift (“Avshalom route” in the military code), connecting Mount Zion with the western part of Jerusalem. During the War of Independence, the goal of the cable car was to connect and transport food and equipment to the defenders of Mount Zion during the siege.
The plan included a 200 m long steel cable stretching over the Valley of Hinnom, connecting the Israeli post at St. John’s Hospital (Bethlehem Road, nowadays – near the Cinematheque) to the Mount Zion post. The maximum height of the cable car above the valley was about 50 meters. A 250-kilogram freight trolley was attached to the cable and it was stretched out every night and lowered in the morning to the Valley of Hinnom so it won’t get shot down by the Jordanian snipers.
The cable car museum is located on Hebron Road 17, between the Cinematheque and Mount Zion Hotel, at the building from which the cable car was operated. Exhibitions and photographs from this area are presented, the entrance is from Mount Zion Hotel, free of charge.
