Category Archives: Architecture

Monumental enough for Herod the Great?

My article with Bonna Devora Haberman in Jerusalem Post:

So they went eight furlongs [a mile, per day] to Herodium; for there by his own command he was to be buried. And thus did Herod end his life. Josephus, Antiquities, XVII, 8.3.

From 37 B.C.E. until his grisly demise in 4 B.C.E., Herod the Great ruled over Judea. World history has anointed few with the epithet “the Great”. He masterminded and engineered the Jerusalem Temple – among the magnificent temples in the ancient world, the fortress-complex at Masada – the most-visited site in Israel, Caesarea – in its day, the largest all-weather harbor built in the open sea, imposing cities, aqueducts, and finally, Herodium – the most spacious palace known to us in the Greco-Roman world before the common era. A giant who moved mountains, Herod was respected, feared, and despised. Reckoning with Herod is indispensable to interpreting the historical and material landscape of Israel.

Herod’s passion lives on. Herod proved to be archaeology professor Ehud Netzer’s nemesis. The Israel Museum staff have been toiling for three years to present Netzer’s discoveries in the first exhibit in the world dedicated to Herod. Commensurate with his life and work, “Herod the Great: The King’s Final Journey” is unprecedented in grandeur and expense – displayed in 900 square meters, approximately 250 artifacts related to Herod are exhibited, many for the first time. To show even this tiny sampling of his massive production, Herod fittingly required the museum to reinforce its very foundations.

The Jewish Roman historian Josephus Flavius records extensive narrative about Herod – nearly a century after the events. Though he describes in precise detail Herod’s majestic funeral procession to Herodium – performed according to Herod’s own orders – Josephus mysteriously neglects to mention the location of Herod’s tomb. [Read more]

For an in-depth day with Herod – at Herodium and the Israel Museum and/or personalized guided tours of Herod’s other sites and more, please contact Shmuel.

From Israel – what to call this?

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This week I’m trying something new, a post of some of the interesting things I’ve discovered as a guide this week. If anyone has a good idea what to call this post, leave a comment.

Hansen “Leper” Hospital The old Hansen “Leper” hospital built by Conrad Schick in 1887 has an interesting exhibit “Behind the Walls” of the history of the place. Plans are underway to turn the hospital into a municipal cultural center, a meeting place for the arts, media and technology.

Jerusalem Train Station Work continues on the 19th-century abandoned Jerusalem train station to be transformed into a cultural and culinary complex, which developers promise will be open on Shabbat and will serve non-kosher food. “There is something a little kitschy when you try to reconstruct the feeling of the past,” says architect David Kroyanker, but he adds, “The fact is that it attracts people.” from Haaretz

Archaeology Tour Popular Archaeology is organizing an extraordinary archaeological tour of Israel in April. I’m the guide! Among the highlights will be a visit to the new exhibit at the Israel museum, Herod the Great: The King’s Final Journey.
Additional incentive, if you enjoy taking photographs, submit your best ones to win up to $1000. – plenty of photogenic opportunities, for example, the ruins of a Roman temple on night of a full moon and partial eclipse.
More details at http://popular-archaeology.com/page/archaeological-travel-tours

Shroud of Turin Fascinating exhibit on the Shroud of Turin at Notre Dame across from New Gate. Also an incredible view of the Old City from their wine and cheese bar on the roof.

Cherry Blossoms 桜花見 Just past Tu Bishvat, the New Year of Trees and the almond trees are blossoming. Jerusalem Botanical gardens reports that the Japanese cherry trees behind the visitors center are in bloom. While you’re there check out the newly renovated Bonsai section.

Dead Sea Scrolls Israel Antiquities Authority and Google announced that 5,000 Dead Sea Scroll fragments found in Cave 4 at Qumran have been digitized at high-resolution and are now available on the Internet. These include fragments containing the Ten Commandments and sections of Genesis, that recount the first three days of creation. I learned that there are more than 100 fragments of documents in Greek as well. Check out the excellent website at http://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/

Amazing since for years these fragments were at the Rockefeller museum, only accessible to a few scholars and now they are viewable from the comfort of your home.

Christ Church Exhibit Not everyone knows about the exhibit at Christ Church that includes some Conrad Schick models, one of Haram al-Sharif (~1:125) and photographs and mementos of Jerusalem’s Old City from the turn of the century. Look closely at this photo to make out part of the sign of VESTER & CO.

In 1904 Bertha Spafford married Frederick Vester, whose father’s curio shop in Jerusalem had recently been bought by the American Colony. Renamed “Fr. Vester & Co., The American Colony Store,” the business greatly expanded its clientele and range of offerings to include photographs and collections of antiquities.

Jerusalem Old City ~1900

Photo of the Week?

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This week’s photo was taken somewhere in Israel. I think it’s an interesting photo because the blue contrasts with the stone. If you take away the strong blue of the Israel/Mediterranean sky it’s pretty much monochrome, the Jerusalem stone buildings are all one tone. The great Louis Armstrong sings “I see skies of blue, clouds of white, bright blessed days, dark sacred nights” – seems like a good description.

Can you recognize where this photo was taken? Leave a comment.

You can click on the image for a larger view (which may take some time to load depending on your Internet connection). Please share this post via Email, on Facebook or Twitter by clicking on the icons at the end of this message.

This photo was taken with a Nikon D90 DSLR camera and 18-70mm lens on November 21st, (ISO 200, 24mm, F11 at 1/500 sec).

Photographs on this website are © Shmuel Browns (unless marked otherwise) – if you are interested in purchasing one of my photos or using one of my photos for your own project please contact me.

Dome of the Chain on Haram el-Sharif

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The enigmatic building known as the Dome of the Chain was inaccessible and hidden for eight months by metal sheeting as the Waqf did some renovations on the structure. Just a few weeks ago the building was made accessible once again so I went and took these photographs.

The Dome of the Chain is not a mosque or a shrine and is one of the most ancient buildings on the Haram. It was probably built in 691 during the Umayyad period by Abd al-Malik who also built the Dome of the Rock. Some think the structure, because of its position in the precise center of the Haram, existed prior to Islamic rule in Jerusalem and refers back to the days of the Jewish temple or at least to the traditions that surrounded it. There is a tradition that the Dome of the Chain is the site where King David hung a chain that could not be grasped or touched by anyone deceitful, unjust or wicked and where his son King Solomon administered justice.

With the Crusader conquest it became a Christian chapel to St. James, restored as an Islamic prayer house by the Ayyubids and has been renovated by the Mamluks, Ottomans and the Palestinian-based waqf. It seems that the Mamluk sultan Baibars renovated it, refacing the mihrab with marble and reducing the number of outer columns. The ceramic tiles were added in the time of the Ottoman sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent.

One of the most unusual things about the structure is that it combines an interior hexagon defined by marble columns with open arches supporting the dome surrounded by an eleven-sided polygon of columns with eleven open arches. Note that each of the column capitals is different. In the southern wall one arch has been closed as a mihrab. It is the third largest building on the Haram after the mosque of al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock with a diameter of 14 meters.

Lantern hanging from the dome of Dome of the Chain

Ein Karem and Barluzzi’s Church of the Visitation

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When you’re in Jerusalem take some time to enjoy walking around and exploring the village of Ein Karem (Hebrew of Spring of the Vineyard), today a neighborhood of Jerusalem and when you get hungry check out one of the restaurants (see below). The spring made it possible for settlement there dating from the Middle Bronze Age. According to Christian tradition, Mary, pregnant with Jesus, met Elizabeth, pregnant with John at the spring.

There are two churches named St. John the Baptist, one a Franciscan church built in the second half of the 19th century on the remnants of earlier Byzantine and Crusader churches and an Eastern Orthodox church built in 1894 (restored in 1975), also on the remnants of an ancient church. Inside the Franciscan church are the remains of a Byzantine mosaic floor and a cave where, according to Christian tradition, John the Baptist was born. Below the building a mikve or Jewish ritual bath was found dated to the Second Temple period.

The Franciscan Church of the Visitation is located across the village from St. John. The ancient sanctuary there was built against a rock slope, the site where Zechariah and Elizabeth lived and where Mary visited them. An ancient cistern from which, according to tradition, Zechariah and Elizabeth drank, can also be found in the church; the stone next to it is said to have hidden the two from Herod’s soldiers. Tradition attributes its construction to Helena, Emperor Constantine’s mother.

On the wall of the courtyard are ceramic tiles bearing verses from the Magnificat (the Canticle of Mary from Luke 1:46-55) in forty-two different languages. On the church’s façade is a striking mosaic commemorating the Visitation.

The lower level of the church was built in 1862, the upper level was begun in 1938 and completed by Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi in 1955. The upper hall is dedicated to Mary, and its walls are decorated with many paintings in her honor. The interior has Italianate frescoes depicting the Visitation, Elizabeth hiding her son John the Baptist, and Zechariah next to the altar in the Temple and beautiful mosaic floors. In one of the frescoes, there is an image of none other than Barluzzi himself.

Visitation church mosaic floor

Located up the hill is the Russian Orthodox Church, part of the Gorny monastery, nicknamed Moscovia by the locals, begun in 1905 and only completed in 2005, with its classic gold onions.

Take the opportunity to walk or meditate in the tranquil garden of Notre Dame De Sion monastery.

Restaurants

Pundak Ein Karem “with a garden blooming in and around its stone courtyard specializes in pan-European fusion cuisine of the decidedly unkosher variety; free WiFi.”

Karma “will have you eating like a Buddhist monk fallen off the wagon, a genre-defying culinary quality, with a traditional Middle Eastern taboon stone oven at its spiritual center.”

Café Inbal “small bake shop has a nice selection of classic light Israeli fare, kosher.”

Charlotte for those with a passion for a variety of grilled meats and delicious side dishes, kosher.

Esti and Perla “run by and in the home of two ladies by the names of Esti and Perla, who have resided in Ein Karem for over 50 years serves high-quality dairy food, specializing in Moroccan fare, kosher.”

Photo of the Week – Meron Synagogue Ruins

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