Eternity Pillars Memorial Monument Sderot

"Eternity Pillars" New Memorial Sderot

Exactly one year later, on October 7, 2024, a memorial to the fallen named "Pillars of Eternity" was erected in Sderot.

The "Pillars of Eternity" monument is built on the remains of the police station of Sderot, tells the story of the city and the massacre and commemorates the 71 people, including 32 residents of the city who were murdered on October 7, 2023, citizens and policemen.

The seventh of October is a day that no one will forget in Israel, the Western Negev and especially Sderot became massacre zones on the morning of Shabbat and the holiday of Simchat Torah. There is not a single citizen who has not watched the horror videos of the Hamas terrorists who drive through the streets of the city of Sderot, shooting everywhere and murdering the citizens one by one, especially the police station area, the symbol of the city's government, where an 18-hour battle took place, at the end of which IDF forces blew up the police station building along with the terrorists.

After about a year, it was decided to build a commemorative and heritage site on the ruins of the Sderot police station that will tell the story of the city, which has experienced over 20,000 missile attacks since 2005. The municipality of Sderot, the Sderot Development Fund, the Sderot Police, and funding organizations from abroad carried out the work in order to explain the impossible reality of the city to visitors.

During the past year, evidence was collected from the families of the fallen and murdered and recorded on memorial boards, mainly sad and difficult moments but alongside ideas of hope and resurrection.

The memorial site is built as an open garden and in the center of the garden is the "Pillars of Eternity" monument from which, the "Path of the Fallen" emerges in memory of the murdered during the "Iron Swords War".

Sderot "Pillars of Eternity" Planning and Design

The "Eternity Pillars" monument consists of 18 11-meter-high pillars of eternity facing the sky and in the center, there is a space surrounded by vegetation that symbolizes blossoming and the future.

At the top of the pillars are "letters blooming in the air" and at the base are sentences about resilience chosen by the city's residents. On top of the 18 pillars are quotes from letters expressing Sderot's hope over the years in the face of evil and fear in the Gaza Strip. The "Pillars of Eternity" monument represents the firm standing of Sderot and the gap that had to be bridged after the war. Inside the monument, you can also hear songs written by local artists, Ran Elmaleh and Haim Oliel.

On the walls of the "Pillars of Eternity" monument there are stories about the events of October in the city and of course the story of the police station. Inside the "Path of the Fallen" there is a dedication to the 32 residents of the city who were murdered and this whole section is built from the remains of the Sderot police station.

Cecilia Witts is responsible for the planning of the monument and the letters were designed by the calligrapher David Goldstein that express holiness. The most special part of the "Pillars of Eternity" monument is the participation of the city's residents in the planning and content.

Today Sderot has become a tourist site for visitors and tourists in the ​​Gaza Envelope tours, and thousands of people visit what used to be the police station of Sderot and today it will be the "Pillars of Eternity" monument.