Nahal Be'er Sheva Park

The story

Nahal Be'er Sheva Park extends along the course of the stream from Tel Be'er Sheva to the Neve Ze'ev neighborhood, over about eight kilometers and an area of about 5,300 dunams. The works of clearing the sewage, the building waste and the quarry waste from the course of the stream were done between the years 2000 and 2001; the master plan was approved in January 2002; and in October 2009 the government approved a budget of 150 million shekels spread over seven years, of which 21 million for the preparation of access roads on behalf of the Ministry of Transport. The Jewish National Fund and private bodies also took part in the funding. At the heart of the park is an artificial lake of about ninety dunams, the largest in Israel, fed by purified effluent water of the city; a system of three ecological pools in which wetland vegetation filters the water keeps it clean without chlorine. The compound also has the largest amphitheater in Israel, about 12,000 seats, designed by the landscape architect Gideon Sarig. The park gathers into itself several of the veteran points of the city: the Turkish railway bridge of 1916, Abraham's Well, the remains of Beit Eshel, the Bell Garden with a mature eucalyptus grove and a building that served as an ice factory, and promenades on both banks of the stream. At the meeting of Nahal Be'er Sheva and Nahal Beka is the Chalcolithic complex, with Bir a-Safadi on the eastern bank and Bir Abu Matar on the northwestern bank; the complex is bounded between Neve Noy, the Beka quarter and Neve Ze'ev.

• Water and wells
• Archaeology
• Beersheba