Saturday, June 16, 2012

The night life of Old City cats

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This curious or maybe bewildered kitten didn't know what to make of this installation.
Neither did I.

It is one part of "Residents of the City" and was created by Bernardo Shkolnick.
Umm, I wonder what city he refers to.

It was part of last week's Old City of Jerusalem Light Festival. (See more in previous posts.)
Their website explains

The installation shows a representation of the different parts of our own personality in 5 stereotypes. The diverse mixture of these psychological stereotypic elements in each one of us creates the infinite kinds of human beings that we meet everywhere walking in the city . Skolnick uses ordinary illuminated display-window mannequins to represent these universal stereotypes as “humans” of diverse ages involved in different activities.

Near the "artwork" on Muristan Street I found the evening gathering place of the Old City's countless cats!
They must have felt secure behind the fence that protects this monument.

You can click on the photo and read the interesting history.

The complex in back of this stone is called the Muristan (bimaristan meaning "hospital" in Persian).
After the Hospitaler knights left their headquarters on the Temple Mount, they took up residence in the Muristan.
The order was founded during the First Crusade and is also known as the Order of St. John.
These knights, entrusted with caring for the health of Crusaders and pilgrims, built a hospital here.
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We learn from the inscription, "the Grand Priory in the British Realm" followed their example in more recent times.
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(This cat post is for Camera-Critters.)
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13 comments:

  1. That's a confused kitty! Hilarious. GRIN!

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  2. The kitty must be confused. Great shots.

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  3. Sweet!!! I do so love cats...little cats, big cats...wild and tame.

    kiskadee & more

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  4. Nice shots of the street cats.

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  5. Very interesting. Just a curious kitty....checking things out.

    My Camera Critters is at:

    http://rnsane.blogspot.com/2012/06/camera-critters-219-party-for-dogs-and.html#links

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  6. Surely an adventure for those little cats.

    May time and life treat them kind. Please have a good Sunday.

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  7. Lovely Dina! I wish I could get that wee ginger to NZ to take care of him/her!

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  8. They probably enjoy the warmth stored in the stones from the sun during the day too. Being a "cat person" I remember that the cats I noticed the cats in Israel and recall they had very long legs and very raspy voices...a little different from what I'm used to here.

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  9. I always enjoy your cat photos, Dina, but this art lover might be my favorite.

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  10. It surely is an eye-catching installation...

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  11. That zone was almost abandoned when I visted Jerusalem the last time...

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  12. Honestly I love seeing all of the cats bathing in the glorious Jerusalem sunlight and neon lights. It's the sick ones that made me sad.

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