Mount Scopus
ount Scopus, or Har HaTsofim in Hebrew, is a mountain in northeast Jerusalem, overlooking the city from within municipal borders. Mount Scopus has been strategically important as a base from which to attack the city since antiquity. In modern time, from the War of Independence in 1948 until the Six Day War in 1967, Mount Scopus was within the Jordanian Territories and under UN protection.
A variety of important landmarks are situated on Mount Scopus: In 1918, construction of the main campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem was begun on Mount Scopus. The university is one of Israel’s primary research institutions and schools of higher education. By 1947, the university was a solid research and teaching institution with humanities, science, medicine, education and agriculture departments, a national library, a university press and an adult education center. The university also is home to the Botanical Garden with one of Israel’s largest uncultivated plant collections and a cave known to be the Tomb of Nicanor from Alexandri. Mount Scopus is also home to the controversial Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center, a beautifully-built satellite branch of the religious American university run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, overlooking a panoramic view of Jerusalem. The Bezalel Academy of Art and Design is also situated on Mount Scopus.
Hadassah Hospital’s original branch was built on Mount Scopus in 1939 by the Hadassah Women’s Organization; the hospital’s main branch was moved to Ein Karem in 1948 with the occupation of Each Jerusalem by the Jordanians.
August Victoria Hospital is situated on Mount Scopus since 1910. It was used as a hostel for visiting pilgrims and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Ascension until it was converted into a hospital by the British armies during the Second World War.