Dears,

Christian Quarter

For all people who grew up in (widely understood) Christian culture and tradition, Jerusalem and its Old City are the place of the events of the climax of the four books of Gospel, it is the location of the Way of Cross and crucifixion of Jesus. Many people claim that this is the best story ever told... I do not know about that, but for sure this is a very well known story and regardless of our religious position we have to admit that this is one of the fundaments of Western Culture. Maybe this is why I like to visit the places described in Gospel, wonder around and watch thousands and thousands of people coming here.

Via Dolorosa starts in the Muslim Quarter but its final 4 stations are located inside the central structure of the Christian Quarter, the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher.

Inside the Basilica: Stations IX i X
Station XI - many pilgrims claim this is the exact location of the Cross
and the surroundings
Station XII:
Station XIII, the Sepulcher, from the front
and an altar in the back

As far as I understand, it is still somewhat disputed if the location of the Basilica is really correct and if the tradition started by Helena and Constantine corresponds to historical facts. In particular, it is not clear if there was any grave at the place of Station XIII.

However, there is at least one 2000 (or so) year old tomb inside the Basilica

An old altar near the entrance to the tomb on left

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is a big and dark structure filled with numerous paintings, sculptures, lamps and places of special meaning to somebody:

Also, one can find here a tremendous amount of examples of simple vandalism. After some time some of the examples of that may get historical value, but they are still just examples of vandalism, regardless if

those are notes of XIX century pilgrims,

or marks made by crusaders

Inside the chapels:
Area of the Ethiopian monastery:
Entrance to the monastery and the Patriatchate

Not far from the Basilica, there is Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. It was built in 1898 by German Emperor Wilhelm II. (If you read German, you may find some info on this church here ).

The last picture above tells you a lot about the character of the Old City. It is mostly one big shopping mall, with tens of thousands of tourists and thousands of shop keepers. It does not matter where you are, by the church or a few steps away , you can always do your shopping. You know, all this region is very mixed, but this is the character of the shops that can help you to find out your location. For instance, if you see a store like this , you know you left the Christian Quarter and entered the Muslim part. These road signs are quite useful, as all narrow and curved streets look alike in all parts of the Old City:

But surely, there are many details that can tell you that you are in the Christian Quarter:

				(In all parts of the city, soccer is played the same way.)

Jerusalem's Old City walls

There is one good thing about the walls: they have a road on top and in principle you may walk on them around the Old City. But only in principle, as there is a break in the walls at the place of Jaffa Gate and more importantly no one is allowed on the walls near Al-Aqsa. Consequently any walk on the walls must be broken into two disconnected routes. The part that goes along the western and northern sides of Old City starts at the Jaffa Gate . From here you may walk by the Christian and then Muslim Quarters. On one day I decided to walk this route, taking pictures to my left (outside Old City) and right (towards Old City). Some results of this picture taking are presented below.

Beginning of the tour; the board on right gives us some basic info		The picture on the right side presents view toward Jaffa Gate (from above)
Let us start our walk taking pictures of what's on left
and that of what's on right
Latin Patriarchate
This is still Christian Quarter
On our left, the tower of Mt Scopus campus (on horizon)		and on our right the tower of the Augusta Victoria complex
New Gate (and places nearby)
The walls and the passage
This is the Muslim Quarter already
and the Damascus Gate
As I mentioned earlier, soccer, basketball etc are played everywhere the same way:
A look at the Mount of Olives		and our walk is over: we arrived to the Temple Mount. I will write more about this place next month (perhaps)

Your questions and pics of the City

Do I feel safe here?

alive

or not

do not have any impact on me.

BTW: this is Tnuva, not Cow Parade

On the other side of that street, between apartment buildings there is another tomb (from the same period):

And I am thinking: people have been living in this region for so long, that everywhere here must be some graves. Fort instance, down under my apartment there could be a grave. And all those strange noises I hear at night, these are not mice or rats, these are GHOSTS! No, sorry, I do not feel safe here anymore....

What did I inhale on a pic from the last report?

Godfather - change of the ownership

and change of the decoration

What do I listen to on my iPod?

It could be something by Carlo Gesualdo ( Madrigali, Concerto Delle Dame Di Ferrara: Sergio Vartolo)

But it also could be Led Zeppelin. Do you remember this:

There's a lady who's sure All that glitters is gold And she's buying a stairway to heaven. When she gets there she knows If the stores are all closed With a word she can get what she came for. Ooh, ooh, and she's buying a stairway to heaven.

Sometimes my mood tells me to pick Pink Floyd (Division Bell is my favorite CD by PF)
some other time Queen could be the choice (Made in Heaven is my favorite CD by them)	Sometimes I feel so sad, so sad, so bad But no-one's gonna stop me now, no-one
on another occasion I may choose Beastie Boys
or Black Sabbath		or Aerosmith
or Björk
or Destiny's Child
or even Britney Spears

PS: The Polish version of this report is available here.

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Last modified: Sat Jul 1 20:00:45 IDT 2006