Yad Vashem (Israel) – Location, Geography, Facts

Yad Vashem is Israel’s official memorial and museum dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust.

Yad Vashem, Israel.

Country: Israel
Coordinates: 31.7744° N, 35.1772° E

Yad Vashem overview

Yad Vashem is Israel’s official memorial and museum dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust. The institution sits on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem and serves as a national center for documentation, research, education, and commemoration; it is administered by the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority. The site contains a permanent historical exhibition, a central Names Database of victims, and an archival and research complex that together form its core institutional collection.

Yad Vashem coordinates

Yad Vashem is commonly mapped at approximately 31.7744° N, 35.1772° E, or 31.7744, 35.1772 in decimal degrees.

Degrees: 31.7744° N, 35.1772° E

Decimal: 31.7744, 35.1772

Where Yad Vashem is located

The campus occupies the western slope of Mount Herzl, commonly called the Mount of Remembrance, on the western side of Jerusalem. Administratively it lies within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem and is part of the national commemorative landscape anchored by Mount Herzl cemetery. The complex directly abuts wooded areas that form part of the Jerusalem Forest and sits above the urban neighborhoods to the east, creating a visual and topographic relationship with the city below. Its placement on the slope shapes circulation and building siting across the site.

Why Yad Vashem is important

The site combines commemorative memorials, museum exhibitions, archival collections, and a formal recognition program for rescuers known as Righteous Among the Nations. Its Names Database and collection of testimony and documents function as primary resources for Holocaust research and genealogical identification. Unlike single-building museums, the campus integrates outdoor monuments, sculptural installations, and purpose-built archival repositories, linking tangible artifacts with large-scale memorial architecture and an institutional mandate to both honor victims and support scholarly inquiry.

History of Yad Vashem

The institution emerged as a state-sponsored response to the need for a national memorial and repository for Holocaust documentation, established on a site designated as the Mount of Remembrance. Initial memorial elements and commemorative ceremonies preceded the construction of a multi-building museum and archival campus that expanded in phases to accommodate growing collections and research programs. Over time the site developed specialized departments for documentation, education, art preservation, and international liaison, and it gradually assembled extensive oral histories, private papers, photographs, and personal items donated by families and communities.

Natural features of Yad Vashem

Buildings are sited along the hillside, producing a sequence of aboveground and subterranean volumes that follow the slope. Distinctive architectural elements include a long, descending axial gallery that leads visitors into the principal historical exhibition and a circular Hall of Names that presents recorded Pages of Testimony in a focused commemorative space. Exterior materials combine exposed concrete with finished stone surfaces that relate to local masonry traditions, while outdoor memorials and planted plazas mediate between built forms and the adjacent woodland terrain.

Environment, protection, and monitoring of Yad Vashem

The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority holds legal stewardship and operational responsibility for the campus, collections, and memorial grounds. Archival holdings are managed by professional curators and conservators under controlled conditions and preservation standards intended for long-term stabilization of paper, film, and object media. The site is maintained as part of the national heritage network, with stewardship practices that coordinate landscape conservation, monument maintenance, and institutional archival planning across successive administrative phases.

Yad Vashem facts

The site was founded to serve as Israel’s central state memorial and repository for Holocaust documentation, combining commemoration with scholarly work. The campus stands on the western slope of Mount Herzl, forming part of the national commemorative complex in Jerusalem. The institution administers the Righteous Among the Nations program that formally recognizes non-Jews who acted to save Jews during the Holocaust. The Hall of Names functions as a dedicated repository that preserves personal Pages of Testimony and supports a searchable Names Database. The complex unites indoor museum galleries with outdoor avenues and sculptural memorials integrated into the hillside landscape.

← Israel