Following the total destruction of Jerusalem in 135 AD, Emperor Hadrian forbade Jews to even enter the new Roman city he raised in its place. But, dispersed throughout the empire, the Jews kept Jerusalem forever in their hearts. Returning to the Promised Land in the 19th century they re-settled the Old City’s Jewish Quarter until the 1948 War of Independence left it once again destroyed, and under Jordanian control. June 1967 saw a wave of joy surge through the Jewish world as Jerusalem was reunified and the Kotel, the Hebrew name for the Western Wall (page 106/7) and other revered sites returned into Jewish hands. An extensive program of reconstruction and archaeological exploration of the Jewish Quarter followed.
The Wohl Archaeological Museum displays remains of homes of the Herodian Quarter from Second Temple times. Restored mosaics, period furniture and other artifacts show how people lived two thousand years ago. The nearby Burnt House is the ruins of a seven-roomed dwelling that belonged to the Kathros priestly family. It was gutted in 70 AD when Titus’ troops torched Jerusalem’s Second Temple and the main residential district.
One can walk along the Cardo, the main street of the Byzantine city reconstructed in the 5th century on the lines of Hadrian’s Aelia Capitolina. Discovered with the help of a mosaic map found at Madaba (pages 186/7) the Cardo once ran from the Damascus Gate to where the ruins of the Nea Church are seen today by the Zion Gate. Modern shops bring this ancient arcade back to life.
Upon the ruins of three high towers that once guarded King Herod’s palace close to the Temple, the 12th century Crusaders built the Citadel in their typical fortress style. But even the surrounding moat did not prevent it being destroyed by the Moslems in the 13th century. Family the Ottoman Turks rebuilt the Citadel next to the Jaffa Gate, and added the minaret known as the Tower of David.
One of the city’s most famous landmarks, it now houses a unique museum dedicated to the history of Jerusalem. Here modern exhibits are complemented by ancient surroundings, and on summer nights a sound and light show is held in the fine Mameluk and Ottoman courtyard.
Its ceiling resting on four Byzantine pillars, for generations the 13th century Ramban Synagogue was the Jews’ only house of prayer in the city. Naturally it became the hub of the Jewish Quarter. That title is now claimed by the Hurva Square built by the remains of the Hurva, an 18th century synagogue about which it was said “As the Temple Mount is the gateway to Heaven, so the Hurva is its window”. Burned down, rebuilt and then destroyed again in 1948, the Hurva has been left as a ruin with just a single arch restored. Nearby is a complex of four restored Sephardic Synagogues originally built by Jews expelled by the Spanish Inquisition of the 16th century.
This page is part of the book The Holy Land of Jesus
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