Virtual Tour of Modern Jerusalem

The King David is a Jerusalem landmark and Israel's most famous hotel. Built with locally quarried pink sandstone, the hotel was opened in 1931. On July 22, 1946, when the hotel was being used as a base for the British Secretariat, it was bombed by the Jewish underground. Menachem Begin ordered the attack in retaliation for the British Operation Agatha. 91 people, mostly civilians, were killed. After the bombing, the hotel became a British fortress until May 4, 1948, when it then became an Israeli fortress. At the end of the War of Independence, the hotel found itself on the border that separated Israel and Jordan. This hotel was reopened in 1967, after the Six-Day War, when Israel regained Jerusalem. Today the famous 5-star hotel hosts many visiting dignitaries and celebrities.