Versailles wedding hall
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The Versailles wedding hall (Hebrew: אולמי ורסאי), located in Talpiot, Jerusalem, is the site of the worst civil disaster in Israel's history. Around 23:00 on the night of May 24, 2001 during the wedding of Keren and Asaf Dror, a large portion of the third floor of the four-story building collapsed. As a result, 23 people fell to their deaths and approximately 380 were injured. The disaster shocked the Israeli public, not only because it was one of the worst building disasters in the country's history but also because the event was documented on a camcorder and was later broadcast on local and international television.
An investigation of the event concluded that the event wasn't caused by a terrorist attack. This was based on the testimony of many of the wedding guests present in the building during the disaster that there were dangerous slopes in the wedding floor a short time before the collapse. Later on it became clear that the Pal-Kal method of construction - based on cheap construction of light-weight ceilings - was the main cause of the collapse. Furthermore, a few weeks before the collapse, the wedding hall owners removed one of the building's main supporting columns, and by doing this reduced its stability. The inventor of the Pal-Kal method of construction, the engineer Eli Ron, was arrested as a result of the disaster and in August 2002 an indictment was issued against him on the charge of manslaughter.
Following the disaster, the "Versailles Law" was legislated by the Parliament of Israel. This law established a special committee responsible for treating the people injured in the disaster. Moreover, an official investigation committee was established, under the leadership of the former judge Verdimos Zailler, who was in charge of the security of public places and buildings.
In October 2004, the three owners of Versailles wedding hall -- Avraham Adi, Uri Nisim, and Efraim Adiv -- were convicted of causing death by negligence and causing damage by negligence.
The wedding hall was subsequently demolished, and as of 2007, the site remains an unoccupied, sealed lot. Across the street from the site is a memorial garden, with names of victims inscribed on a wall.
