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Shrine of the Book

The Shrine of the Book is a wing in the Israel Museum near Givat Ram in Jerusalem. It houses the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered in 11 caves in and around the Wadi Qumran in 1947–1956. The shrine was initially intended to be built on the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University, adjoining the National Library. An elaborate seven-year plan led to the building’s construction in 1965, funded by the family of David Samuel Gottesman, the Hungarian émigré and philanthropist, who had purchased the scrolls as a gift to the State of Israel.

One of the architects, the pragmatic Armand Phillip Bartos (1910–2005) was evidently chosen based on his being married to Gottesman’s daughter Celeste Ruth Gottesman (who formerly had married Jerome John Altman in 1935 and divorced). For the other appointed architect, the eccentric visionary Frederick John Kiesler (1890–1965) Gottesman had earlier funded a fact-finding project to discover if Kiesler’s “Endless House” could be installed at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The architectural team also included Gezer Heller, who went on to build many important structures in the new State of Israel. He married Alice Hammer, sister of Ibbi Hammer, the woman who became the chief banker of the State of Israel. She was the daughter of the Chief Rabbi of Budapest.Initially, Israeli architects strongly objected to non-Israeli architects’ having been chosen through nepotism and to Kiesler’s having never completed his architectural studies in Vienna and Berlin (though licensed as an architect in New York) and having never built anything. He was primarily an avant-garde stage designer who taught occasionally. Nevertheless, the American-Jewish architects had been chosen by Gottesman as early as 1955.The shrine is built as a white dome, covering a structure placed two-thirds below the ground, that is reflected in a pool of water that surrounds it. Across from the white dome is a black basalt wall. The colors and shapes of the building are based on the imagery of the Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness; the white dome symbolizes the Sons of Light and the black wall symbolizes the Sons of Darkness.As the fragility of the scrolls makes it impossible to display all on a continuous basis, a system of rotation is used. After a scroll has been exhibited for 3–6 months, it is removed from its showcase and placed temporarily in a special storeroom, where it “rests” from exposure.The museum also holds other rare ancient manuscripts and displays The Aleppo Codex. Its dome, due to the unusual architecture, has been used as scenery for several science fiction movies.

En Prat Nature Reserve

En Prat is a spring of water, which rises in a spectacularly beautiful desert canyon. The spring flows into a natural rock pool, and its output (around 1500 m³ a day) creates a brook that flows all year round. In ancient times, the spring was an important source of water for Jericho. In Hasmonean times, an aqueduct, which was built in the Early Moslem period, carried water from the spring. Remain of the aqueducts from the Byzantine period as well as ruins of a flour mill, have been found east of the spring. In 1927, the British began to pump water from the spring to supply the residents of East Jerusalem with water. By 1970, all of Jerusalem connected to the national water system, and pumping stopped. The remains of the Mandate-era pumping station and pipes can still be seen within the nature reserve. In the past, the pool was used for irrigation, and today it is a bathing pool for the enjoyment of visitors to the site. – Israel Nature and Parks Authority Photo attribution: Bukvoed, CC BY 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Hezekiah’s Tunnel

The Siloam Tunnel, also known as Hezekiah’s Tunnel, is a carved water channel beneath the City of David. In ancient times, it was located in the Arab neighborhood of Silwan in eastern Jerusalem. Its popular name derived from the most common hypothesis, dating back from the reign of Hezekiah of Judah (late 8th and early 7th century BC), and corresponds to the “conduit” mentioned in 2 Kings 20:20 in the Hebrew Bible. According to the Bible, King Hezekiah prepared Jerusalem for an impending siege by the Assyrians. He successfully blocked the source of incoming water from the upper Gihon, directing it down west to the City of David.

Mamilla Boulevard

Mamilla was a Jerusalem neighborhood established in the late 19th century outside the Old City, west of the Jaffa Gate, containing a mixed Jewish-Arab business district. Between the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and the 1967 Six-Day War, it was located along the armistice line between the Israeli and Jordanian-held sectors of the city. Due to building destruction caused by Jordanian shelling, the Israeli government approved an urban renewal project for Mamilla. This allowed for apportioning land for residential and commercial zones, including hotels, shops, and office spaces, ultimately leading to The Mamilla Mall, which opened in 2007.

Rockefeller Archaeological Museum

The Rockefeller Museum, formerly the Palestine Archaeological Museum, is currently an archaeological museum located in East Jerusalem. It houses a large collection of artifacts unearthed in the 1920-1930 Mandate Palestine excavations. The Israel Museum manages The Rockefeller Museum, which houses the head office of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Photo Attribution: Deror Avi, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Old City of Jerusalem

The Old City is a 0.9-square-kilometer (0.35 sq mi) walled area within the modern city of Jerusalem. The history of the Old City has been documented in significant detail, notably in old maps of Jerusalem over the last 1,500 years. This area constituted the entire city of Jerusalem until the late 19th century; neighboring villages such as Silwan, and new Jewish neighborhood such Mishkenot Sha’ananim, later became part of the municipal boundaries. The Old City is home to several sites of key religious importance: the Temple Mount and Western Wall for Jews, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians, and the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site List in 1981. Traditionally, the Old City has been divided into four uneven quarters, although the current designations were introduced only in the 19th century. Today, the Old City is roughly divided (going counterclockwise from the northeastern corner) into the Muslim, Christian, Armenian, and Jewish Quarters. The Old City’s monumental defensive walls and city gates were built in 1535–1542 by the Ottoman sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent.

Mount Zion

Mount Zion is a hill in Jerusalem, located just outside the walls of the Old City. The term ‘Mount Zion’ was initially used in the Hebrew Bible for the City of David. (2 Samuel 5:7, 1 Chronicles 11:5; 1 Kings 8:1, 2 Chronicles 5:2) It was only later used for the Temple Mount, but its meaning shifted and is now used as the name of ancient Jerusalem’s Western Hill. In a greater sense, the term is also used for the entire Land of Israel.

Jerusalem International YMCA

The cornerstone for the Jerusalem YMCA was laid in 1928 by Lord Plumer, the British High Commissioner for Palestine. Purchased from the Greek Orthodox Church Patriarchate, the cornerstone was placed on a plot of land in the West Nikephoria section of Jerusalem. Many YMCA leaders around the world attended the opening ceremony of the building on April 18th, 1933. Every detail of the building, such as its elegant arches, domes, and towers, was described in the world press, which hailed it as a wellspring of cultural, athletic, social, and intellectual life. Until 1991, the YMCA stadium was the only soccer stadium in Jerusalem. American architect, Arthur Loomis Harmon of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon, designed the building, which still stands today. Developers razed the stadium to make way for a luxury housing project known as King David’s Court.

Last Supper Site

The Last Supper is the final meal that, according to Christian belief, Jesus shared with his Apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. The Last Supper is commemorated by Christians especially on Maundy Thursday. Furthermore, it provides the scriptural basis for the Eucharist, also known as “Holy Communion” or “The Lord’s Supper”. The First Epistle to the Corinthians is the earliest known mention of the Last Supper. The four canonical Gospels all state that the Last Supper took place towards the end of the week, after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. They additionally mention the shared meal between Jesus and his Apostles that took place shortly before he was crucified later that week. During the meal, Jesus predicted his betrayal by one of the Apostles present and foretells that, before the next morning, Peter will deny knowing him. The three Synoptic Gospels and the First Epistle to the Corinthians include the account of the Eucharist institution. Jesus takes bread, breaks it, and gives it to the Apostles, saying: “This is my body which is given for you.” The Gospel of John does not include this episode, but tells of Jesus washing the feet of the Apostles, giving the new commandment “to love one another as I have loved you.” They then proceed to have a detailed farewell discourse by Jesus, calling the Apostles who follow his teachings “friends and not servants”, as he prepares them for his departure. Scholars have looked to the Last Supper as the source of early Christian Eucharist traditions. Others believe Last Supper derived from the 1st-century eucharistic practice as Paul described in the mid-’50s.

Mount Scopus

Mount Scopus is a mountain located in northeast Jerusalem. Between the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and the 1967 Six-Day War, Mount Scopus was a UN-protected Israeli exclave within Jordanian-administered territory. Today, Mount Scopus lies within the municipal boundaries of the city of Jerusalem.

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