On the eve of Israel’s Memorial Day on Sunday, a $25 million Hall of Remembrance dedicated to fallen soldiers was unveiled on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, where Israel’s national cemetery and other memorial and educational facilities are located.

The hall features a 60-foot mountain of stones and a bell made of more than 6,000 steel bricks. The walls are covered with about 23,000 bricks, each engraved with the name of a fallen soldier, the date the soldier was killed, and a candle to be lit on the anniversary of the soldier’s death.

“The Hall of Remembrance will allow for a personal and collective experience of commemoration and is an expression of the country’s moral obligation to remember every single one of its fallen,” the Defense Ministry said. “It is the only structure in the country that physically commemorates all of Israel’s fallen, from all of its wars, on its very walls.”

Memorial Day began at nightfall Sunday with a 60-second siren during which Israelis stand still in silence. A two-minute siren sounded the next morning.

An estimated 1.5 million people visited Israeli cemeteries Monday.

At Mount Herzl, each grave is decorated with an Israeli flag, a memorial candle, and a floral bouquet—in all, 300,000 stems of chrysanthemum, statice, gerbera, and roses—purchased by the Ministry of Public Security from growers across the country.

Memorial Day ended Monday night with a torch-lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl, at which time Israel’s 69th Independence Day celebrations began. Similar ceremonies took place in communities across Israel.

(via Israel21c)

[Photo: Times of Israel / YouTube ]