Seeing is believing: miniature and gigantic architectural models of second temple

What is it about?

Miniature architectural models are often used as signs or markers, which frame a touristic site as a place worth visiting. In this paper I explore the relations of architectural models to their ‘real’ sites, as well as to other copies and representations. The article examines the Holyland Model, a miniature model showing Jerusalem in the year 66 AD, which has become a tourist site in its own right. The central building in this model is the miniature Jewish Temple, which was later replicated in both miniature and gigantic copies. I follow the transformation of this Temple image, from a secular-cultural symbol of Israeli national identity to a represention of different Orthodox Jewish and Christian evangelical agendas. I argue that the large-scale buildings in fact replicate the miniature models, inverting both sign relation and scale relation between original and copy. The use and manipulation of the image of a building, produced initially at the Holyland Model, has become an essential device for the production of meaning and affect.

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Why is it important?

I highlight the significance of miniature models as cultural material artefacts, used in order to present their viewers with specific versions and interpretations of the exterior world. For the tourist, they mark sites as tourist attractions, which are then recognised by the visitors. I show how the process of recognition is essential in order for the tourist to make sense of the touristic experience.

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