Celestial cartography at Hebrew University

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Shalom from Israel where this week's weather is wet, wild, and windy.
Tune in tomorrow to see if Jerusalem really gets the expected snow!

Meanwhile, for ABC Wednesday,  Z is for zodiac.

But this, that I found on the wall of the National Library of Israel, is more than just a zodiac;  it is a famous example of celestial cartography from 1515.
It is a reproduction of Albrecht Dürer's woodcut called  Imagines coeli Septentrionales cum duodecim imaginibus zodiaci, a star chart of the Northern hemisphere sky with images of the 12 zodiacal constellations.

In the corners are four historical astronomers:  Aratus of Cilician Soli, Ptolemy, Marcus Manilius, and Al-Sufi.

You can click once on the photo and then click again, to see it much enlarged.

Fascinating details about Albertus Durer's star charts are told in Electrum Magazine. 

What other treasures lie in these big locked drawers of the National Library's Map Room?
Only the librarian knows for sure.
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When printing took some effort

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We have come a long way since this Alexandra iron handpress was made in London in 1730.

It has a place of honor in the front window of our National Library at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
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The Bible on a necklace?

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I've heard of wearing your heart on your sleeve, but would you wear your Bible on your necklace?
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This miniature Hebrew Bible has a metal case with a built-in magnifying glass.
It was made in Warsaw in 1896.
The sign in the Bible exhibit display case at our National Library suggests that perhaps the little case was meant to be worn on "a chain of the neck."
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Swords into ploughshares, in mirror image

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On an upper floor of Israel's National Library there was a reflection just waiting to be captured for James' Weekend Reflections!

The huge stained glass window caused the reflection.
Mordechai Ardon made this triptych in the early 1980s, inspired by the prophetic vision of peace in Isaiah 2:2-4.
More details in an earlier post.
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Shabbat shalom, Sabbath peace, to all.
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Xerxes on an old scroll from Italy

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Fortunately there is a name with a Jewish connection for today's ABC Wednesday X-day.

Xerxes, King of Persia, is Achashverosh in Hebrew and became Ahasuerus in English Bibles.
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Enlarge the photo and see if you think that is Xerxes on the throne on the top of this beautiful old Scroll of Esther.
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The story of Purim is told in the Book of Esther.
Esther is a Jewish girl who becomes Queen to King Xerxes and through her bravery is able to thwart an attempt to slaughter all the Jews living in Persia at that time, about 2,500 years ago.

This parchment scroll was made in 1616 in Ferrara, Italy.
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"The Bible in Manuscripts and Printed Books" is a wonderful permanent exhibit that I found at Israel's National Library while I was there, at the Hebrew University, for the big book giveaway.
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The People of the Book

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I blogged about Israel's National Library before, with its stained glass windows (some of the largest ever made) that show Isaiah's vision of eternal peace (here and here).
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But this morning the library was the scene of something totally different:
a giveaway of 30,000 books, free!
The photo above I took a half hour before the books were brought out, but hundreds of people were already standing around the tables outside, securing their places.
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I didn't have strong enough elbows or long enough arms to get first choice at the books.

When the poor library workers couldn't get through to the tables, they put boxes on the ground.
The crowd pounced on each new box.
Sort of like a feeding frenzy.
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The non-fiction books were either extras or material that the library could not use, books that had been donated to the library over the years.
Most were in English, with some in Russian, German, French, and Hebrew.
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The Jewish National and University Library website says this "donation to the public" will go on for four days or until all the books are gone.
More of the story at the Jerusalem Post.
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Among the throng were mothers with babies strapped to them, men in wheelchairs, religious and secular, students and older folks.
"The People of the Book."
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Stained glass reflected in glass

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Reflected in a showcase displaying old maps at the National Library of Israel is Mordechai Ardon's great work of stained glass.

It makes an entire wall at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Measuring 16 x 6 meters/yards, this creation is among the largest stained glass windows ever made.

The theme is the prophet Isaiah's vision (Isaiah 2:2-4) of eternal peace at the End of Days.

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An earlier post explains the rich symbolism and gives a closer view.

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City Daily Photo's July 1 theme day is Reflections.
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

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A window of peace

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While exploring Jerusalem together, my visiting grandsons and I discovered this by chance!
We just happened to wander into the library of the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University.

Measuring 16 x 6 meters/yards, this creation is among the largest stained glass windows ever made.
Mordechai Ardon was one of the great painters of Israel. Towards the end of his life the message of peace became his focus, and he addressed his work to war-weary Israel. The theme of his window, executed in 1980-84 for the National Library of Israel, is the prophet Isaiah's vision (Isaiah 2:2-4) of eternal peace at the End of Days.

In the photo above, broken modern weapons and shells are turned into spades. "They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

"And many peoples shall come and say: 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.' " The left panel depicts the roads taken by the nations on their way up to Jerusalem. Each road is marked by the verse, "Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord…" in several different languages and alphabets including Latin, Greek, and Arabic.
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The red middle panel is my favorite.
At the bottom is Jerusalem's city wall as mentioned in Isaiah. But look carefully! The wall is not of stone; it is a spiritual wall, the Scroll of Isaiah itself, which was discovered at Qumran among the Dead Sea Scrolls!
The parchment floating above the "wall" reads "And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares."
The network of blue circles and lines is the Kabbalistic Tree of Sefirot, a symbol of the mystical Divine Presence (Shechinah) over the city. The composition of Sefirot made of concentric circles is also derived from the Book of Zohar.

On the east side of the National Library, facing the rising sun, the stained glass window covers the entire wall of the mezzanine lobby to the General Reading Room.
The building houses the National Library of Israel, the National Library of the Jewish People,
and the main research-level Humanities Library of the Hebrew University.
As the Philately Service wrote when it issued stamps of Ardon's windows,
"The close connection between the subject of the windows - Jerusalem - and their position in the library, the hall of the eternal spirit of Jewishness and Humanism, is obvious. It was the artist himself who chose this place for his creation and it was the place itself which gave him inspiration."
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Here is the entire stained glass window in a photo from the Library website.
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The assembling was carried out by master-craftsman Charles Marc at the "Atelier Simon" in Rheims, France. It took two years to complete.
Although nearly 90, Mordechai Ardon participated actively in the execution of his great work.

UPDATE: See Ardon and about Ardon and his window in this 1990 video.
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Other guided tours of beautiful places in the world will be available from tonight at the friendly meme That's My World Tuesday. You're welcome to join or visit.
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