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World-renowned
Armenian
artist
Marie
Balian
spent
months
preparing
an
original
mural
as
a
gift
for
the
people
of
Jerusalem.
Six
meters
tall
and
four
meters
wide,
her
fabulous
artwork
contains
close
to
1,000
colored tiles.
Balian’s
unique
method
involved
sketching
in
charcoal
on
the
tiles,
designing
and
painting
them
and
then
burning
them
in
the
oven.
Afterwards,
each
was
fit
into
the whole picture.
The
mural
offers
a
view
of
heaven
and
earth
separated
by
a
palm
tree,
and
features
a
peacock,
a
deer
eating
leaves
from
a
lemon
tree,
a
cypress
waving
in
the
wind
and
fish
jumping
out
of
the
water.
No
people
appear
in
the
mural,
which
gives
off
a
wonderful
aura of serenity.
Balian’s
masterpieces
are
exhibited
all
over
the
world
—
from
the
Eretz
Israel
Museum
of
Tel
Aviv
to
the
Smithsonian
Museum
in
Washington
DC.
But
when
she
proudly
presented
her
creation
to
Jerusalem’s
mayor,
Balian
probably
expected
it
to
be
shown
in
a
major
municipal
spot.
Instead,
it
ended
up
on
a
whitewashed
exterior
wall
along
a
run-
down, nondescript downtown street (Koresh Street) that few people bother to visit.