I n Herodian times this area abutted the Temple enclosure (see pp44–5) a n d w a s o c c u p i e d b y t priestly elite. In the late Roman period, Jews were forbidden from living in Jerusalem, but under the more tolerant Arab rule a small community was re- established here. The district became prevalently Jewish dur- ing Ottoman rule, when it acquired its present name. By the 16th century, pilgrimage to the Western Wall – the only surviving remnant of the Temple – had become
a strong tradition. After the destruc- tion wrought in the 1948 War and the
bsequent years of Jordanian occupation, the Jewish Quarter was taken by Israeli troops in 1967, and reconstruction work began soon afterwards. A great many ruins from ancient periods were uncovered below more recent buildings. These remains were made accessible to the public, so that the Jewish Quarter of today stands as a fascinating, living mix of more than 2,000 years of Jerusalem Jewry.
SIGHTS AT A GLANCE Archaeological Sites The Broad Wall2
The Cardo1
Israelite Tower 0
Jerusalem Archaeological Parkt
St Mary of the Germans e Museums
Ariel Centre for Jerusalem in the First Temple Periodq
The Burnt Housew
Old Yishuv Court Museum9
Wohl Archaeological Museum6
Ark in a Jewish Quarter synagogue
Holy Places Dung Gate r
Ramban Synagogue4 The Sephardic Synagogues8
The Western Wall y Streets and Squares Batei Makhase Square 7
Hurva Square3
Tiferet Yisrael Street 5
GETTING THERE
The Jewish Quarter is most easily reached on foot via Jaffa Gate and the Armenian Quarter.
Buses No. 1 and 2 stop at Western Wall Plaza.
Drivers can enter the Old City by Jaffa, Zion or Dung gates and park at the bottom of Khabad St.
KEY
Street-by-Street map See pp78–9 hTaxi h rank
Bus
# station
City wall 0 metres
0 yards 100
100
M A K H A S E E OT
H
Street-by-Street: Around Hurva Square
Extensively reconstructe 1967 and largely residen the Jewish Quarter is no more orderly than the rest of the Old City. It is also relativ large groups of tourists.
point for the local community is Hurva Squar has a few small shops and cafés with outdoor seating.
Most of the interesting sights in the quarter a few minutes’ walk from here. Another hub of is the Cardo and Jewish Quarter Road area, w filled with souvenir shops and more places to eat.
J E R U S A L E M A R E A B Y A R E A 7 8
Th mi rem ce
. The Cardo
This is an excavated and partially reconstructed section of the main street of Byzantine-era Jerusalem1
The Sephardic Synagogues Two of these four synagogues date back to the early 17th century. They all contain much ornate decoration8
Batei Makhase Square A small secluded squa this is favoured by loc children as a play are Its most notable feature is the elegant 19th-centu Rothschild House, wit its arcaded faỗade 7
Rothschild House Jewish Quarter sign
Q
D A
R
EL
A
T H E J E W I S H Q U A R T E R 7 9
L d d
l i l i f
STAR SIGHTS .The Cardo .Hurva Square .Wohl Archaeological
Museum KEY
Suggested route
Yisrael Street
This lively street heads towards the Wall, passing the ruined 19th- Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue 5
. Hurva Square ea’s main square is dominated
by Hurva Synagogue, which is currently undergoing extensive and lengthy renovations 3 Ramban Synagogue
Founded around 1400, rst uilt led the Jews from Jerusalem4
ll Archaeologists
e 2
LOCATOR MAP
See Jerusalem Street Finder, maps 3 and 4
Hurva Synagogue (see pp80–1)
JEWISH QUARTER
MUSLIM QUARTER
MOUNT OF OLIVES AND MOUNT ZION
J E R U S A L E M A R E A B Y A R E A 8 0
On the building next to the exposed wall, a clearly visible line indicates what archaeologists think was the original height of the wall.
Also visible are the remains of housing from the same period, demolished to make way for the wall, as described in the Book of Isaiah (22: 10),
“And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall”.
The Cardo1 Map 3 C4.
Now in part an exclusive shopping arcade, the Cardo was Jerusalem’s main thoroughfare in the Byzantine era. It was originally laid by the Romans, then extended in the 4th century as Christian pilgrims began to flock to Jerusalem and the city expanded accordingly. The Byzantine extension, which remains in evidence today, linked the two major places of worship of the time, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (see pp92–7)in the north and the long-since-vanished Nea Basilica(see p82)in the south.
The central roadway of the Byzantine Cardo was 12.5 m (41 ft) wide. This was flanked by broad porticoed pavements and lined with shops. Visitors can get a good idea of how the area once looked by descending to a reconstructed section, which runs for almost 200 m (650 ft) alongside Jewish Quarter (Ha-Yehudim)YY Road. At the southern end are the remains of original shops that were partly hewn out of the rock on the west side of the street.
The Cardo’s continued importance during the reign of Justinian in the 6th century is attested to by its prominent appearance on the famous Madaba map (see pp216–17).
Some 500 years later, in the Crusader era, the Cardo was converted into a covered market, which is how the northern section has now been preserved, as an arcade of smart galleries and boutiques.
The Broad Wall2 Plugat ha-Kotel Street.Map 3 C4.
The Jewish quarter was largely destroyed during the 1948 War and allowed to deteriorate further under Jordanian occupation.
Following the 1967 Israeli victory, a vast recon- struction programme resulted in many signif-ff icant archaeological finds. One of these was the unearthing of the foundations of a wall 7 m (22 ft) thick and 65 m (215 ft) long. This was possibly part of fortifications built by King Hezekiah in the 8th century BC to
enclose a new quarter outside the previous city wall. The need for expansion was probably brought about by a flood of refugees after the Assyrian invasion of 722 BC.
Hurva Square3 Map3 C4.
This is the heart and social centre of the present-day Jewish Quarter. In the maze of narrow, winding streets which, though modern,
follow the topography of the quarter before its destruction, Hurva Square is one of the
few open spaces in the area. It has cafés, souvenir shops and a few snack
bars that have small tables outside when the weather
is good. Also here is theJewish Students’
Information Centre, which provides help with accommodation and invitations to Shabbat (Sabbath) dinners for visiting
young Jews.
On the west side of the square is the minaret of the long-since vanished 14th- century MamelukeMosque of Sidna Omar, along with the historic Hurva and Ramban synagogue complexes. Hurva means “ruins” and the history of theHurva Synagoguemore than justifies its name. In the 18th century a group of a few hundred Ashkenazi Jews from Poland came to Jerusalem and founded a synagogue on this site. However, it was burnt down by creditors angered by the community’s unpaid debts. The synagogue was rebuilt in 1864 in a Neo- Byzantine style. However, during the fighting that took place in 1948 between the Arab and Jewish armies, the synagogue was destroyed.
After the Israelis recaptured
The Cardo, the main street of Byzantine-era Jerusalem
Sidna Omar minaret The Broad Wall, part of the city’s
8th-century BC fortifications
T H E J E W I S H Q U A R T E R 8 1
snack bars and cafés, including the popular Quarter Café, which serves kosher food and offers great views of the Haram esh-Sharif and Dome of the Rock from its terrace.
Tiferet Yisrael Street5 Map 4 D4.
This is one of the busiest streets in the Jewish Quarter.
It connects Hurva Square with the stairs that descend towards the Western Wall.
Partway along is the shell of the ruined Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue, destroyed in the 1948 War and left gutted as a memorial. Sectarian feelings run high around here, and local souvenir shops stock contentious items such as Israeli Army T-shirts and postcards of the Haram esh-Sharif with its mosques replaced by the “future Third Temple”. The street ends in an attractive tree-shaded square which has several the Old City in 1967, a single
arch of the synagogue’s main faỗade was reconstructed.
Currently, work on the structure is underway again and it is expected that by 2010 the renovations will have been completed.
Hurva Square, the social and commercial hub of the Jewish Quarter
Tiferet Yisrael Street, one of the liveliest thoroughfares in the Jewish Quarter
Ramban Synagogue4 Hurva Square.Map 3 C4.#for morning and evening prayers.7 When the Spanish rabbi and scholar Moses Ben Nahman (Nahmanides) arrived in Jerusalem in 1267, he was shocked to find only a handful of Jews in the city. He dedi- cated himself to nurturing a Jewish community and bought land near King David’s Tomb on Mount Zion in order to build a synagogue. Some time around 1400, the synagogue was moved to its present site.
It was perhaps the first time there had been a Jewish presence in this quarter of the Old City since the exile of the Jews in AD 135. The synagogue had to be rebuilt in 1523 after it collapsed. It is believed that, at this time, it was probably the only Jewish place of worship in what was then Ottoman- controlled Jerusalem. In 1599 the authorities banned the Jews from worship in the synagogue and the building became a workshop. It was not until the Israelis took control of the Old City in 1967 that it was restored as a place of worship.
Wohl
Archaeological Museum6 1 Ha-Karaim Street.Map4 D4.
Tell(02) 628 3448. # 9am–5pm Sun–Thu, 9am–1pm Fri. & ^ In the era of Herod the Great (37–4 BC), the area of the present-day Jewish Quarter was part of a wealthy
“Upper City”, occupied for the most part by the families of important Jewish priests.
During post-1967 redevelop- ment, the remains of several large houses were unearthed here. This rediscovered Herodian quarter now lies from 3 to 7 m (10 to 22 ft) below street level, under- neath a modern building, and is preserved as the Wohl Archaeological Museum.
The museum is remarkable for its vivid evocation of every- day life 2,000 years ago. All the houses had an inner court- yard, ritual baths, and cisterns to collect rain, which was the only source of water at the time. The first part of the museum, called the Western House, has a mosaic in the vestibule and a well-preserved ritual bath (mikveh). Beyond
this is the Middle Complex, the remains of two separate houses where arch- aeologists found a maze-pattern mosaic floor covered in burnt wood; this, they surmised, was fire damage from the Roman siege of Jerusalem in AD 70.
The most complete of all the Herodian build- ings is the Palatial Mansion, with more splendid mosaic floors and ritual baths.
The entrance fee to the Wohl Museum also covers admission to the Burnt House (see p84).
J E R U S A L E M A R E A B Y A R E A 8 2
height for the build- ings, as Ottoman law stated that synagogues should not rise above the surrounding houses.
TheBen Zakkai Synagogue was built in 1610. Its courtyard, with a matroneum, or gallery for women worshippers, was converted into the Central Synagogue, whose present form dates from the 1830s. The Prophet Elijah Synagogue, created from a study hall built in 1625, was consecrated in 1702. Legend has it that during prayers to mark Yom Kippur,YY Elijah appeared as the 10th adult male worshipper needed for synagogue prayer – hence the building’s name. TheIstambuli Synagoguewas built in 1857 and, like the other three, contains furnishings salvaged from Italian synagogues damaged in World War II.
Batei Makhase Square7 Map 4 D5.
This quiet square is named after the so-called Shelter Houses (Batei Makhase), which lie just south of it. They were built in 1862 by Jews from Germany and Holland for des- titute immigrants from central Europe. Tenants were chosen by lottery and charged little or no rent. Severe damage in the 1948 and 1967 wars made restoration necessary.
The work brought to light the first remains of the Nea (New) Basilica, whose exist- ence had previously been known only from the Madaba map (see pp216–17))and literary sources. Built by Byzantine emperor Justinian in AD 543, it was at the time the largest basilica in Palestine. The re- mains of one of the apses can be seen near the square’s southwest corner. Although other remains are sparse, archaeologists have now been able to trace the basilica’s full extent – an enor- mous 100 m (328 ft) by 52 m (171 ft).
The handsome, arcaded building on the western side of the square was built for the Rothschild family in 1871. In front of it are parts of Roman columns, whose origi- nal provenance is unknown.
The Sephardic Synagogues8 Ha-Tupim Street.Map 3 C5.Tel (02) 628 0592.#9:30am–4pm Sun–Thu, 9:30am–12.30pm Fri.&
The four synagogues in this group became the spiritual centre of the area’s Sephardic community in the 17th century.
The Sephardim were descended from the
Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 and Portugal in 1497.
They had first settled in the Ottoman Em- pire and then moved
to Palestine when the latter was con-
quered by the Turks in 1516.
When the first two synagogues were built, the Sephar- dim formed the largest Jewish community in Jerusalem. The synagogue floors were laid well below street level to allow sufficient
Old Yishuv Court Museum9
6 Or ha-Khayim Street.Map3 C5.
Tell(02) 627 6319. # 10am–3pm Sun–Thu, 10am–1pm Fri.& ^ This small museum, devoted to the history of the city’s Jewish community from the mid-19th century to the end of Ottoman rule in 1917, occupies one of the oldest complexes
of rooms in the Jewish Quarter. Of Turkish construction, thought to date from the 15th or 16th centuries, it was once part of a private home. The exhibits, consisting largely of reconstructed interiors, memorabilia and photographs, also include the Ari Syna- gogue on the ground floor. This was used by a Sephardic cong- regation during most of the Ottoman period.
Badly damaged in the fighting of 1936, it fell into disuse until 1967, when it was restored.
On the top floor is the
Bimah from the Istambuli Synagogue
Rothschild House and a Roman column base and capital in Batei Makhase Square The 17th-century Ben Zakkai Synagogue
T H E J E W I S H Q U A R T E R 8 3
Ariel Centre for Jerusalem in the First Temple Periodq
Bonei Hahomah Street.Map4 D4.
Tell(02) 628 6288. # 9am–4pm Sun–Thu (Jul & Aug 9am–6pm Sun–Thu, 9am–1pm Fri).&
www.ybz.org.il
The principal exhibit here is a model of all the archaeo- logical remains of First Temple Period Jerusalem (around the 8th century BC). It illustrates the relationship between remains, which can be difficult to interpret when they are seen on the ground surrounded by other buildings. It also shows the original topography of the area before valleys were filled in and occupation layers built up. An audiovisual show describes the city’s history from 1000 to 586 BC.
There is also a display of finds from a secret dig carried out in 1909–11 by English archaeologist Captain Mont- ague Parker. His team of excavators penetrated under- neath the Haram esh-Sharif in search of a chamber that reputedly contained King Solomon’s treasure. When news of the dig got out, violent demonstrations by Jews and Muslims, united in their opposition to the desecration of their holy site, forced Parker to flee the city.
the heads of Israelite and Babylonian arrows, as well as evidence of burning. These finds are thought to date from the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 586 BC (see p42) and may identify the gate as the one through which Babylonian troops entered the city (Jeremiah 39: 3). The other visible remains belong to the 2nd-century BC Hasmonean city wall, another section of which can be seen at the Citadel (see pp102–5).
The apartment block above was built on stilts, as were other modern buildings in the Jewish Quarter, to allow access by archaeologists. However, the need to rebuild rapidly after the 1948 War meant that there was insufficient time to uncover many of the remains and draw a complete plan of the area’s fortifications.
Household objects on display at the Old Yishuv Court Museum
18th-century Or ha-Khayim Synagogue, used by Ashkenazi Jews in the 19th century.
Closed between 1948 and 1967, it is now a functioning synagogue once more.
Israelite Tower 0 Shonei Halakhot Street.Map4 D4.
# 9am–5pm Sun–Thu, 9am–1pm Fri.&
Steps at the corner of Shonei Halakhot and Plugat ha-Kotel streets lead underneath a modern apartment block to the remains of a tower of the 7th century BC. The tower, the walls of which are over 4 m (13 ft) thick and survive to a height of 8 m (26 ft), is believed to have been part of a gateway in the Israelite city wall. At its foot were found
JEWISH QUARTER ARCHITECTURE Heavily damaged during the 1948 War, the Jewish Quarter has been almost totally reconstructed in recent times. While there is no distinct “Jewish style”, the quarter’s mod- ern architecture belongs to a well-defined Jerusalem tradition. First and foremost, everything is constructed of the pale local stone. Use of this stone has been mandatory in Jerusalem since a law to this effect was passed by the British military governor, Ronald Storrs, in 1917. Buildings and street patterns are deliberately asymmetrical to evoke haphazard historical development.
Streets are also narrow and cobbled, with many small courtyards and external stair- cases to upper levels. Buildings make great use of traditional Middle Eastern elements such as arches, domes and oriels (the high bay windows supported on brackets, much favoured by Mameluke builders). A jumble of A
different heights means that the roof of one building is often the terrace of another. The result is a very contemporary look, which is at the same time firmly rooted in the past.
Modern additions harmonise with traditional styles
J E R U S A L E M A R E A B Y A R E A 8 4
Beside the church is a flight of steps down to the Western Wall Plaza. These provide wonderful views of the Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock and the Mount of Olives behind.
The Burnt Housew
Tiferet Yisrael Street.Map4 D4.
Tel (02) 628 7211. l #9am–4:20pm Sun– Thu, 9am–12:20pm Fri.& 7 8 phone in advance.
In AD 70 the Romans took Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple and Lower City to the south. A month later they A rampaged through the wealthy Upper City, setting fire to the houses. The charred walls and a coin dated to AD 69 discovered during excavations show that this was one of those houses.
A stone weight found among A the debris bears the inscription
“son of Kathros”, indicating that the house belonged to a wealthy family of high priests.
They are known from a sub- sequent reference to them in the Babylonian Talmud, written between the 3rd and 6th century AD.
The rooms on view, introduced by a slide show with commentary, comprise a kitchen, four rooms that may have been bedrooms, and a bathroom with a ritual bath. It is believed that these formed part of a much larger resi- dence, but further excavations cannot be undertaken as the remains lie beneath present- day neighbouring houses.
The entrance fee also covers the Wohl Archaeo- logical Museum(see p81).
St Mary of the Germanse Misgav la-Dakh Street.Map4 D4.
#daily.
Immediately below the terrace of Tiferet Yisrael’s Quarter Café are the original walls of St Mary of the Germans. This early 12th-century Crusader church was part of a complex that included a pilgrims’ hos- pice (no longer in existence) and a hospital. It
was built by the Knights Hospitallers (see p49)and run by their German members. This was in response to the influx of German- speaking pilgrims unfamiliar with French, the lingua franca, or Latin, the official language, of the new Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Activity ceased when Jerusalem fell to the Muslims in 1187, but the church and the hospital were again used during the brief period when Jerusalem was once more under Christian rule (1229–44).
Today the church is roofless. However, the walls survive to a considerable height, showing clearly the three apses of the typical basilica plan so widely used in the Holy Land from early Byzantine times.
Dung Gater Map4 D5.
In old photographs the Dung Gate is shown to be hardly
any larger than a doorway in the average domestic house. Its name in Hebrew is Shaar ha-Ashpot, and it is mentioned in the Book of Nehemiah (2: 13) in the Old Testament. It is probably named after the ash that was taken from the Temple to be deposited outside the city walls. The Arab name is Bab Silwan, because this is the gate that leads to the Arab village of Silwan.
The gate was enlarged by the Jordanians in 1948 to allow vehicles to pass through. It is now the main entrance and exit for the Jewish Quarter, but it still remains the smallest of all the Old City gates. It retains its old Ottoman carved arch with a stone flower above.
Dung Gate, leading to the Western Wall
The outline of rooms and some of the artifacts unearthed at the Burnt House
Surviving walls of the Crusader-built St Mary of the Germans
Jerusalem Archaeological Park t
See pp86–7.