180 feet under

摘要

WALKING THROUGH the Minharot Olam (Perpetual Tunnels) project in Jerusalem is like navigating a massive honeycomb. The developers have cut a mile (1.6km) of tunnels through the earth that are over 50ft (16 metres) high. Some are 18 storeys below ground. Within each, giant drills have burrowed thousands of holes into the walls and ground. Soon they will be filled not with honey, but bodies: 23,000 of them, to be exact. This subterranean city of the dead, inaugurated on October 30th, lies beneath Har HaMenuchot, Jerusalem's largest cemetery, which is nearly full. Other local graveyards are already out of space; hence this novel solution. In some parts of Har HaMenuchot the dead are in high-rise structures. But these are costly and still take up a lot of space. Building down leaves more land for the living.