Opportunity knocks

Jerusalem’s homes and institutions open to the public

Annual architecture festival Open House Jerusalem to take place over two October weekends, with free tours of sites around the capital

By Jessica Steinberg
  • Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
 24 September 2026, 6:56 pm
The exterior of the restored Tiferet Synagogue in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter, open for tours during Batim Mibifnim in October 2026 (Jewish Quarter Tourism)

Open House Jerusalem, the annual Batim Mibifnim architecture festival, will once again offer visits and tours of hundreds of private homes, public buildings, houses of worship and other sites around the capital. The event will take place over two weekends, October 15-17 and October 22-24, and is free of charge, though some tours require advance registration.

Visitors can get a first look at the preservation work on the restored Tiferet Israel Synagogue, one of the central synagogues in the Old City’s Jewish Quarter, built in 1872 and destroyed by the Jordanian Legion in 1948.

The restoration included the wall and ceiling paintings decorating the building’s interior spaces, while archaeological excavations at the site uncovered remains from the First and Second Temple periods, the Herodian, Byzantine and Mamluk periods, and up to the end of the 19th century.

The tour, led by architect Carlos Prus, will cover the complex logistics of the restoration given the limited access for transporting equipment and construction materials through the narrow alleys of the Old City.

Tiferet Israel Synagogue offers three available tours with advance registration, limited to 20 participants each. Registration opens October 9.

House of Arches

Participants can ogle the beautifully furnished House of Arches, a four-floor home in the Talbieh neighborhood redesigned as two apartments.

The House of Arches in Jerusalem’s Talbieh neighborhood, open for tours during Batim Mibifnim in October 2026 (Itay Benit)

Designer Sharonne Turen will lead the tours, showing off the handmade tiles and stonework, as well as the landscaped garden with a Jacuzzi and outdoor kitchen, and the underground wine room, sauna and spa.

The House of Arches offers six tours with advance registration, limited to 20 participants each. Registration opens October 9.

Modernist buildings in the German Colony and Talbiye

Architect Sharon Dinur, director of the municipality’s Preservation Department, will lead a tour of modernist buildings designated for preservation in the German Colony and Talbiye neighborhoods, beginning with Beit Elisheva on Elazar Hamoda’i Street.

Beit Elisheva, part of a tour of modernist buildings in Jerusalem during Batim Mibifnim in October 2026 (Courtesy)

The two-hour tour will describe how the buildings are integrated into the neighborhoods’ historic urban fabric and discuss future planning trends for the neighborhoods and individual buildings.

Beit Elisheva offers two tours with advance registration, limited to 50 participants each. Registration opens October 9.

Tours without registration

There are plenty of tours that don’t require advance registration, including the new dormitories at Hebrew University’s Givat Ram campus, the Jerusalem Bird Observatory, the Inbal Hotel, Paris Square and its neighbors, the New Gate street revitalization project, the Chicken Coop House on Emek Refaim Street, and others.

The Chicken Coop House on Emek Refaim, open for tours during Batim Mibifnim Jerusalem in October 2026 (Courtesy)

Head to the Batim Mibifnim site for a full listing in English of all the sites, homes and tours open to the public during the two-weekend event.

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