This photo shows just one
tiny portion of Garrard's model, which measures 20 ft. by
12 feet. It's so huge that Gar-
rard provides visitors with bi-noculars to view it close up.

Garrad says he finds his
hobby relaxing, but asserts
that his wife thinks he's mad
and wishes she'd married someone more "normal".



A retired farmer, Garrard
built the model in his "spare
time". He says he'll never
finish, because he always
thinks of something more to
add to his creation.

.

Today, only one wall remains
of the original temple. It is
known as "the western wall"
or as "the wailing wall," and
is holy to Jews worldwide.



He even sculpted 4,000 tiny
human figures to populate the courtyards



The attention to detail is quite
incredible. Note that he pain-
stakingly marblized each
tiny column.



Here's a view of the Court of Prayer, where you can see the extraordinary attention to detail

 
Alec formed, baked & painted every clay brick and tile and
each tiny figure.



Garrard formed, baked and
hand-painted every tiny brick
and each miniscule figure.



This gives you an idea of
the scale of the figures.



Garrard must have incredible
patience.

Alec Garrard, 78, has spent
over 33,000 hours building his temple, but he doesn't expect to finish it in his lifetime.



Garrard says he always en-
joyed building models, and
at the age of 48 he decided to
find a project to occupy him
for the rest of his life.  He spent the next 3 years researching the temple.


It's so impressive that some
of the world's top archaeolo-
gists have come to see it.



In contrast to the 30 years
Garrard spent on his model,
the real temple complex
supposedly was built in only
3 years, but historians believe
it took much longer.

In its heyday, the original
temple complex covered over
36 acres.



King Herod the Great built his temple in 19BC, but it was destroyed just 6 years later,
in AD70, by Roman troops
under Emperor Titus during
the Siege of Jerusalem.




The model is built on a scale
of 1:100.  Since the day the
temple was destroyed,
scholars have argued over
the details of its construction.   



Over the years, the model has attracted thousands of visitors from all over the world.




This building on Garrard's
farm houses his model.

Above is an artist's rendition
of  the "real" temple complex
which historians believe was
built with the labor of 10,000
slaves.

This is the place where Jesus
reputedly drove the money-
lenders from the temple, and
amazed the rabbis with his
knowledge while still a child.

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