The Rothschild Dynasty to Rebuild the Roman port city of Caesarea in Israel
In May 2017, the Edmond de Rothschild Foundation announced an investment of $27.5 million in the restoration of the magnificent Roman port city of Caesarea in what is known as the Caesarea National Park.
Despite the lack of government funding and involvement, Michael Karsenty, CEO of the Caesarea Development Company (a subsidiary of the Rothschild Foundation), declared that once the restoration and development project is completed, Caesarea will rival Jerusalem as “the main tourism site in Israel.”
Caesarea was originally built by King Herod on the site of a Phoenician port settlement in honor of Herod’s patron, Octavian Augustus Caesar. In Roman and Byzantine times, it was a major city of those empires.
One notable site that is already open is a Roman fountain, built in the corner of the temple platform in the 1st century A.D. and now fully restored, complete with Roman marble statues in the niches. New sites being restored include an extensive system of vaults in the front of the temple platform, which was the main public building of Herod’s Caesarea. The vaults, which look out over the harbor, include a monumental staircase that led those arriving from the harbor to the temple itself.
http://www.jns.org/latest-articles/2017/5/30/archaeology-haven-of-caesarea-seeks-to-emerge-as-main-tourism-site-in-israel#.WiuEydxhlaQ=