The original design called for excavating beneath the hill, thereby recalling the wound inflicted on the Jewish people. The architects were inspired by the vision of the Valley of the Dry Bones as described by the Prophet Ezekiel:

"The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones.. Thus said the Lord God unto these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live."  (37: 1,5)

Dug deep into the bedrock with walls rising up from the depths, the Valley breathes life into the communities engraved on its walls. It is made up of over one hundred open-air sections separated from each other by walls of Jerusalem stone. Seen in its entirety from above, the site looks like a maze of ruins, depicting a world that has all but disappeared.