Beis Hamikdash — a living model of the Second Temple
01 / THE SACRED PRECINCT −
A place of gathering. A succession of courts leads westward toward the soaring white-and-gold sanctuary.
500 × 500 cubits · Mishnah’s Temple Mount
The keilim Menorah Shulchan Golden altar Kiyor
Welcome
A living model of the Second Beis Hamikdash
Walk the Temple courts at human scale, explore Jerusalem, or open the Avodah library to follow a service step by step. Each guide brings together its people, vessels, sequence and sources.
Walk the courts, orbit the model, or explore the Avodah step by step. Each guide carries its sources.
Begin exploring Take the tour Walk inside
Drag to orbit · Scroll to zoom · Double-click a surface to focus on it Drag to orbit · Pinch to zoom · Two fingers to pan
01 The whole picture Har Habayis 02 The sanctuary Heichal & Ulam 03 The inner court Azarah & Mizbe’ach 04 The eastern court Ezras Nashim 05 The colonnades Royal Stoa 06 Within the Heichal Interior cutaway 07 Beyond the walls Ancient Jerusalem
Temple Mount Ezras Nashim
Go to Go to a place… About this place Map Controls Exit walk
W A S D or arrows to move · Drag to look · Shift to hurryWASD or arrows · Drag to look Mouse look
Move
Drag here
× At human scale
Find your own way through.
W A S D Walk forward, left, back and right. Arrow keys move forward and back, and turn.
Shift Hold to walk briskly.
Drag Look around. On a computer, Mouse look follows the mouse without dragging; press Esc to release it.
Touch Use the round control at the lower left to move, and drag anywhere else to look.
Stairs follow the ground beneath your feet. Walls, columns and the keilim keep their physical space. Use Go to a place to move directly to another part of the model, or Exit walk to return to orbiting.
Eye level1.50 m 1.65 m 1.80 m
The scale uses a 0.5 m cubit as a display assumption; historical cubit estimates vary. The walking route is a spatial exploration, not a reconstruction of ancient access permissions.
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Bringing the stones to life
Preparing the model
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Built from the text. An interpretive reconstruction of the Second Beis Hamikdash, based primarily on Mishnah Middot. The principal court and sanctuary dimensions follow the Mishnah; some stairs and architectural proportions are simplified. Stone finishes, ornament, surrounding buildings and landscape are interpretations.
Read each place’s sources alongside its model note. Biblical design passages, the Mishnah and Josephus describe different aspects of the sanctuary and do not always agree; the model does not combine them into a single measured survey.
The model uses cubits as its working unit. Historical descriptions differ, and this is an educational visualization, not an archaeological survey or a halachic ruling. The Holy of Holies is shown without the Ark, consistent with the Second Temple setting.
The Avodah library Sixty guides cover daily service, offerings, festivals, purification and personal procedures. Each step links to its selected source. Animated figures and vessels are illustrative; durations, faces, tailoring and camera placement are reconstruction choices. Regional scenes identify settings that have not been modeled exactly. Some sources describe an earlier period than the city setting, including Sotah before its discontinuation.
Explore the sources Mishnah Middot · courts, steps & sanctuary ↗ Rambam, Beit Habechirah 2 · the altar ↗ Josephus, Jewish War 5.5 · materials & appearance ↗ Josephus, Antiquities 15.11 · the Royal Stoa ↗ Mishnah Yoma 3:10 · the laver’s twelve spouts ↗ Mishnah Shekalim 8:5 · the woven curtain ↗ Rambam, Beit Habechirah 5 · courts & gates ↗ Rambam, Beit Habechirah 6 · steps & levels ↗ ArtScroll Yoma · annotated Temple diagrams ↗
Jerusalem and its streets The city setting represents approximately 66 CE. Excavated buildings and streets guide its forms; exact house footprints and connecting wall traces are reconstructed. The streets themselves are not yet part of the walking route.
Upper City excavations · terraced courtyard houses ↗ IAA Stepped Street · routes, steps and gathering plaza ↗ IAA street frontages · first-century buildings ↗ Israel Museum · the 66 CE model setting ↗
Further reading Rabbi Zalman Menachem Koren · The Beit HaMikdash ↗ The ArtScroll Yoma diagrams provide an additional comparison for the courts and steps. Koren's book is listed for further reading; its full text was not available for this reconstruction.
Materials CC0 stone textures from ambientCG and Rob Tuytel / Poly Haven . Daylight reflections from Greg Zaal and Jarod Guest / Poly Haven .
Visitor anatomy is adapted from Blender Studio’s Human Base Meshes by Dan Ulrich, released under CC0. Clothing, hair, and sandals were modeled for this scene. Cormorant Garamond and Manrope are used under the SIL Open Font License.
Keyboard Keyboard: Focus the model, then use 1–7 to change viewpoints or arrow keys to pan. Tab moves through controls. Escape closes this window.