Mount of Remembrance

Mount Herzl
הַר הרצל Har Herzl
The main entrance to Mount Herzl
Highest point
Elevation	834 m (2,736 ft)
Coordinates	31°46′26″N 35°10′50″E / 31.77389°N 35.18056°E / 31.77389; 35.18056Coordinates: 31°46′26″N 35°10′50″E / 31.77389°N 35.18056°E / 31.77389; 35.18056
Geography
Location	1 Herzl Boulevard Jerusalem
Parent range	Judean

Mount Herzl (Hebrew: הר הרצל‎‎ Har Hertsel), also Har ha-Zikaron (Hebrew: הר הזכרון‎‎ lit. "Mount of Remembrance"), is the site of Israel's national cemetery and other memorial and educational facilities, found on the west side of Jerusalem beside Jerusalem Forest. It is named after Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism. Herzl's tomb lies at the top of the hill. Yad Vashem, which commemorates the Holocaust, lies to the west of Mt. Herzl. Israel's war dead are also buried there. Mount Herzl is 834 meters above sea level. Every plot section in Mount Herzl has a broad plaza for memorial services. Most state memorial ceremonies for those killed at war are conducted in the National Military and Police cemetery.

In 1934, Zionist leader Menahem Ussishkin organized the re-interment of Leon Pinsker in Nicanor Cave on Mount Scopus in an attempt to build a pantheon for the great leaders of the Jewish nation. Ussishkin was buried there himself in 1941. When Mount Scopus became an enclave, cut off from Jerusalem, the implementation of this plan was no longer feasible.

During summer 1949, Theodor Herzl's remains were reinterred on a hill in West Jerusalem which faced the Mount of Olives from a distance and renamed in his honour, Mount Herzl. In November 1949, soldiers who fell during the War of Independence in the Jerusalem area were buried on the north slope of the hill. In 1951 the government decided to establish a national cemetery for Israeli leaders and fallen soldiers at Mount Herzl. It has served this purpose ever since.