WALK No. 1      BACK

 

CITADEL, ARMENIAN QUARTER, MT. ZION, JEWISH QUARTER, WESTERN WALL.

This comprehensive walk leads you through the Armenian Quarter to the shrines on Mt. Zion, back into the Old City through the Jewish Quarter, and then down to the Western Wall.

Take Bus Nos. l, 13, 19, 20 or 23 to the Jaffa Gate (see Sites). A Government Tourist Information Office is on your left, as you enter the gate.

On your right is the Citadel, popularly but erroneously called David's Tower. Worth seeing here are the archaeological courtyard and the newly opened Museum of the History of Jerusalem. Also the multi-slide show and a zinc model of Jerusalem made in 1873. Enter the Citadel by climbing the steps off the road curving right. General Allenby announced the liberation of Jerusalem in 1917 from the platform at the top of the steps. The gate behind it was constructed by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1531.

The Citadel was rebuilt by Herod on Hasmonaean foundations with Phasael, Mariamne and Hippicus Towers above the palace fortress. Only Phasael Tower, named after his ill-fated brother, and the Citadel's foundations survive. After the suppression of the Bar-Kochba revolt the Romans stationed their legionnaires in the Citadel. This structure was later added to by the Crusaders and the Saracens. The upper sections of the walls and all the fortifications were built by the Ottoman Turks.

The moat beyond the gate surrounds the Citadel. Phasael Tower is to your right. Cross a Turkish bridge to the 14th-century Mameluke gateway. You may climb the stairs up Phasael. It offers a breathtaking view of the Old City (see ``Places to Visit'' - Citadel).

The minaret in the southern tower dates back to the 17th century while the southeastern tower is Mameluke. The northwestern tower has Crusader foundations and slits for arrows near the top. As you enter the courtyard you will find excavations from the Hasmonaean and Arab periods. The upper sections of the walls and all the fortifications were built by the Ottoman Turks.

Exit from the Citadel the way you entered. Across the road is the Anglican Christ Church. It dates from 1849.

Now go along Armenian Orthodox Patriarch Road, past the police station on your right. Turn left into St. James' Road, following its curves and then turning left into Ararat Street on your right is Syrian Orthodox Street.

Enter the Syrian Orthodox Monastey. (It is only open from 3 to 4 p.m.) These black-robed monks speak and pray in Aramaic, the language in general use during the time of Jesus. Their exquisitely ornamented l2th-century church is built over the site of the house of Mary, the mother of St. Mark, where Peter called after being delivered from prison (Acts 12: 12-17).

When you enter the church look to your right at the Aramaic inscription on the wall. It states that the church's members were in Jerusalem shortly after the Temple was destroyed. Within the church is a stone baptistry covered with silver. The monks say that Mary, mother of Jesus, was baptised in it. Above this is a painting on leather of the Virgin and the infant Jesus, which the monks claim is the work of St. Luke. Note, too, the hand-carved Patriarchal throne, gilded over near the altar.

As you return to the Armenian Orthodox Patriarch Road , look for the Old Yishuv Museum on Or HaHayim St. (see ``Museums''). When you get to Patriarch Road, turn left. Soon you come to the Armenian Cathedral of St. James. The church officials will allow modestly dressed visitors within their shrines only during services (see ``Places to Visit'').
(If you are not allowed in, continue on this road (the Armenian Museum is on your left) and walk through Zion Gate, turning right for the Couvent Armenien St. Sauveur.)

The Cathedral is a Crusader building. As you enter there is a chapel on your left. This is claimed to be the spot where the apostle James was decapitated and where his head is entombed. The other St. James, after whom the church is also named, was the first Christian bishop of Jerusalem and he is said to be buried under the altar.

Access to the Church of Holy Etchmiazine is through the Cathedral's southern door. Inside are three stones - from Mt. Sinai, Mt. Tabor and the Jordan - all significant places in Jewish and Christian history.

Close to the entrance to the Armenian compound is a flight of steps leading up to the Patriarch's residence. The treasures in here include thousands of priceless works of art and manuscripts. Also within is the sceptre of the last King of Armenia who ruled in the l4th century.

Across the compound is the Gulbenkian library. Go down some steps, pass under a gateway and turn right. Here is the House of Annas or Convent of the Olive Tree. Jesus is said to have been brought here before being sent to the house of Caiaphas. Jesus is believed to have been tied to the ancient olive tree outside the Convent. The 5th-century church within the Convent was renovated in the l4th century. In the recently completed Armenian museum, art treasures and antiques are displayed. Entrance is from the main road a fee is charged.

Exit through Zion Gate (see ``Places to Visit'') and turn right, soon arriving at the gate with a sign above saying, Couvent Armenien St. Sauveur. Beyond the new Armenian church built over the site believed to have contained the House of Caiaphas, and below the paved courtyard, are the tombs of the Armenian Patriarchs of Jerusalem.

Return to Zion Gate, turn right and right again at the fork. Pass the Franciscan Convent of the Holy Coenaculum, built in 1936 when the order, banished from Mt. Zion since 1551, was permitted to return.

Bear left and up the steps within the first gate on your left. Cross through the empty room and enter the Cenacle, in which Christians, with the exception of the Syrian Orthodox community, say the Last Supper was held. On the top right hand corner near the door are two coloured Crusader coats of arms. The vaulting and hefty pillars also date from the Crusader period. The Moslems damaged this site several times before turning it into the Mosque of the Prophet David, after expelling the Franciscans. They did not allow Jews or Christians to enter.

Return to street level, turn left, walk into the building, and turn left again. The large stones date from Herod's time. This is the way to the Tomb of David yarmulkas (skullcaps) are available at the entrance.

It is the traditionally accepted site of King David's tomb although it lies well outside the boundaries of the Jerusalem of his time. It is more likely that he was buried on the Ophel but this fact has not deterred pilgrims from coming here to pray, principally Jews on Shavuot, the traditional date of his death.

The silver crowns above the red-velvet covered tomb in the rock cave represent the number of years of modern Israel's independence. Each year another is added. On the right-hand side, as you leave the building, there is the small King David Museum established by the Diaspora Yeshiva.

Turn left now to the Chamber of the Holocaust. To reach it you must go through the darkened rooms and across the street. Inside are tattered Tora Scrolls salvaged from the synagogues of Europe, relics of the European Jewish communities under the Nazis and a memorial flame. Plaques commemorating individuals and communities destroyed in the Holocaust are attached to the walls. When you leave, walk opposite the souvenir shop for a visit to the David Palombo Museum of welded sculptures. Before his death in 1966, Palombo designed the iron gates to Yad Vashem and the Knesset.

The Diaspora Yeshiva is located next to the Chamber of the Holocaust.

Now retrace your steps to the Cenacle and take the right fork. You will come to the German Church of the Dormition, commemorating the death of the Virgin Mary. Built in 1910 it is supervised by Benedictine monks. Six chapels are built around a huge mosaic floor a mosaic above the apse shows Jesus and Mary and the Prophets of lsrael. On the left, steps lead down to a darkened crypt containing a life-sized effigy of Mary. The church's organ is one of the largest in the Middle East. Concerts are often held here.

Return to Zion Gate, walk through it and turn right. Go down as far as Kikar Tiferet Yerushalayim. From the ancient Turkish walls there is a good lookout over the oldest part of Jerusalem, where David built his capital. On your left is a square, used as a parking lot, built over the remains of a huge Byzantine church. At the eastern end of the parking lot there is the Metivta Yeshiva. Take the wooden stairway on your right, down to the most famous synagogues in Jerusalem.

They were originally built in the 16th century by Sephardi Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal. On the same site Rabbi Yohanan Ben Zakkai, the 1st-century sage, taught his pupils. Here the Sephardic Chief Rabbi, the Rishon LeZion, was consecrated. They were also the centre of Jewish community life. In 1870 Emperor Franz Josef II of Austria was welcomed in the Ben Zakkai synagogue by the Jewish community. The Jews of the Old City gathered here during the fighting in 1948 and finally surrendered on this spot. However, the four synagogues, sunk three metres below street level, were ransacked and desecrated during the nineteen years of Jordanian occupation. It took four years of painstaking restoration work to bring them to their present state. Religious artefacts from old European synagogues have been installed to replace those looted.

The Ben Zakkai Synagogue (Sephardic), has twin Arks above which is a blue and gold mural with a Jerusalem motif, echoing the opulence the synagogue had known in former days.

The Eliahu Hanavi Synagogue is the oldest. It takes its name from an ancient belief that here Elijah the Prophet once made up the minyan (quorum) during a Day of Atonement service in Jerusalem. A chair near the door replaces the ancient one he is said to have sat on. Note the 16th-century wooden Ark brought from Italy. It is now an Ashkenazi synagogue.

The Emtzai (Middle) Synagogue is the smallest of the four. Next to it is the Istanbuli Synagogue, which had a congregation made up principally of young people, craftsmen and small shopkeepers. Its name derives from the many worshippers who came from Turkey. It has a gilded 17th-century Ark from Ancona, Italy and a four-columned bima (platform) from Pesaro. This is used mainly by students from the Metivta Yeshiva, and on Saturdays by a largely English-speaking congregation who follow the Spanish and Portuguese rite. Return now to Kikar Tiferet Yerushalayim and turn left down Batei Mahase Road, parallel to the Old City wall. Silwan Village is on your right (in the valley below) and the Mt. of Olives is ahead on the horizon.

Turn left in the doorway at the sign mentioning Yeshivat Hakotel. You may wish to go down the steps facing you and visit the Writers' Club, if it's open.

Now walk down to the courtyard of the yeshiva on your right and take the steps leading left. The large arcaded building on your left is Beit Rothschild. Inside are the offices of the Company for the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation of the Jewish Quarter. The relics of capitals and column bases in the forecourt were unearthed in the Jewish Quarter and date to the 2nd and 3rd centuries BCE. Walk to the far end of Beit Rothschild and turn left down the lane at its end. The I.D.F. monument on the right is dedicated to the Jews who fell in the Old City during the War of Independence.

Turn right into Rehov HaGaled, under the arched tunnel and into Rehov Beit El. You are facing an ancient Kabbalist centre called Beit El. The high arch on your left towers over the ruins of the most famous synagogue in the Jewish Quarter, the Hurva. This synagogue was built with borrowed money and destroyed by Moslem money-lenders in 1721 when a debt was not repaid. Rebuilt in 1857, the Hurva was destroyed again by Jordanian soldiers in 1948. (See ``Places to Visit''.)

Steps leading down from the Hurva bring you to another ancient house of prayer called the Ramban synagogue. The renowned Jewish scholar Nachmanides established this synagogue in 1267 and described in a letter to his son the pillars that are the structure's central architectural feature.

As you stand at the edge of the square you can't miss the 500 ft.-long Cardo, which was the main street here in Roman times. It was used for parades and religious processions. This Cardo ran through Aelia Capitolina, the Roman town built after the destruction of the Second Temple ( 1st century CE). The structures along it date to the Byzantine 5th century C.E. It was 22 metres wide with a central strip for horses and chariots. Now restored, it includes archaeological exhibitions and a shopping centre.

On Rehov Plugat Hakotel nearby is the Israelite Broad Wall, dating back to the First Temple, and next to it, on Rehov Shonei Halachot, is the Israelite Tower (10 metres underground).

Continue walking east to Rehov Tiferet Yisrael. Steps leading up will bring you to an arched facade, all that remains of a four-storey, 19th-century synagogue, Tiferet Yisrael or Nissan Beck synagogue. To the west is the entrance to the Karaite synagogue, which reportedly dates back to the 11th century. This historic site is located underground, and only if you remove your shoes will you be permitted to enter. In the basement of 10 Karaite St. is a newly restored Herodian quarter of impressive dimensions with mikvaot (ritual baths), frescoes, colourful mosaic floors and so on.

Return to Rehov Tiferet Yisrael and continue walking under the multi-arched arcade which leads to the wide steps descending to the Western Wall (Kotel). On your left is the ``Burnt House,'' which was burnt on the day the Temple was destroyed. On your right is the chief study hall of Yeshivat HaKotel. Halfway down the steps on your right is the newly rebuilt Porat Yosef Yeshiva, designed by architect Moshe Safdie. On your left are the ruins of a Crusader church and hospital. The Western Wall is approached through a plaza. Christian visitors might consider a detour to the Nea Church which is situated below Yeshivat HaKotel (entrance through Rehov Nehamu, near Siebenberg House, with its finds from the First Temple period and later).

Walk across the plaza towards the Western Wall. Women pray on the right, men on the left. To the right of the women's section is Moors' Gate leading into the Temple Mount. To the right of this ramp is an archaeological site which has yielded relics of the First Temple period. When you come close to the wall, notice the many scraps of paper pressed into the crevices. They are the written wishes and prayers of worshippers continuing an ancient tradition.

Observe the tell-tale sign of the Herodian masons. No mortar was used to pack these finely cut blocks of stone.

On your left, you will find a dark archway. Go in and follow the tunnel that leads to the excavations under Wilson's Arch at the northern corner of the wall. Named after a 19th-century British excavator, it is part of a bridge that once linked the Temple Mount and the Jewish Quarter, formerly the Upper City. It is also Herodian. Inside Wilson's Arch are more areas for prayer. Note also the illuminated shaft that shows how far down the stones of the Western Wall reach. You will come out at the men's praying section of the Western Wall.

You may now walk to Dung Gate to catch Bus No. 1 or 38 for the ride back to town, or climb up the stairs and walk through the bazaar or Jewish Quarter to Jaffa Gate.