{"id":83602,"date":"2012-04-01T12:28:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-01T09:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/blog\/how-one-stone-changed-the-world\/"},"modified":"2012-04-01T12:28:00","modified_gmt":"2012-04-01T09:28:00","slug":"how-one-stone-changed-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/how-one-stone-changed-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"How One Stone Changed the World"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A flyer courageously advocates the use of revived Hebrew as a language of instruction for the Technion.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n <\/div>\n In October 1909, Prussian architect Alexander Baerwald was asked to come up with a first plan for the new building. This architect – who used to play cello in a string quarter with Albert Einstein – was inspired by the idea of blending European form with Eastern elements. His oustanding design was approved by the Kuratorium, and in August 1910, Baerwald was awarded the assignment to draw up the detailed plans and supervise the execution. Aside from the stone, most of the other building material came from abroad. The lime was from France, the cement from Germany. Plumbing installations and various fixtures also came from Europe and to this day, visitors at the historic building can read the German manufacturers\u2019 inscriptions on floor plates and elsewhere in the building. Digging of the well also created problems. First attempts could only reach 40 meters, at which point work was suspended due to a lack of skilled labor. A special permit to import the required dynamite was acquired, but it was only when a foreign expert was brought in that work on the well could finally be resumed and water was finally struck at 93 meters. The well was deepened to a 100 meters. The existence of a water source on the upper slopes of Mount Carmel would transform Haifa, becoming an elemental center for the sustenance of life for the following decades and for three invading armies. The well and its water would also become a vital source of income for the young, impoverished Technikum.<\/p>\n In the year of the sinking of the Titanic, and a rare, total solar eclipse, the cornerstone of the new Technikum was finally laid. On April 11, 1912, 36 years before Israel declared independence, under the auspices of the occupying Ottoman Empire the local Jewish community turned out in full to witness the first physical implementation of a dream that lasted for decades.<\/p>\n |