Happy birthday Augusta Victoria

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Someone very important has a birthday today!
She is Auguste Victoria, yes--the Empress--wife of Kaiser Wilhelm II.

I know because I liked the new Facebook page of  the Kaiser (from which the old photo is borrowed), in which he shares their journey to Jerusalem in 1898.

When  Jerusalemites  hear Augusta Victoria, we normally think of this Arab hospital atop the Mount of Olives.
Click on the photo and then once again to see the name on the entrance gate.

 The hospital has a front door you wouldn't believe!
Augusta Victoria  was built in 1907-10 as a hostel for Christian pilgrims and as a rest home for the German population in Eretz Israel.
Many of the materials were imported from Germany.
It was the first building in the country to have electricity, powered by a diesel generator.

 The adjoining Lutheran church has a Kaisersalle with a beautiful old fireplace.
See the crests and names of  the Kaiser and the Kaiserin?

The Kaiser's Hall is often a venue for conferences and lectures.

You are welcome to see my posts about the Augusta Victoria complex, including the huge bells in the belfry, here.

The reason "Kaiser Wilhelm" is journaling his trip on Facebook is because next week the Tower of David museum will be opening an exhibition about his visit in Jerusalem as covered by the journalists of 114 years ago.
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(This is a contribution to Our World Tuesday and Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.)
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Made glad by stringed instruments

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For our PsalmChallenge at Daily Athens Photo, here is Psalm 45

1 For the Leader; upon Shoshannim; [a Psalm] of the sons of Korah. Maschil. A Song of loves.

2 My heart overfloweth with a goodly matter; I say: 'My work is concerning a king';
my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
3 Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured upon thy lips;
therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.
4 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O mighty one, thy glory and thy majesty.
5 And in thy majesty prosper, ride on, in behalf of truth and meekness and righteousness;
and let thy right hand teach thee tremendous things.
6 Thine arrows are sharp--the peoples fall under thee--[they sink] into the heart of the king's enemies.


7 Thy throne given of God is for ever and ever; a sceptre of equity is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
8 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness;
9 Myrrh, and aloes, and cassia are all thy garments; out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made thee glad.

10 Kings' daughters are among thy favourites; at thy right hand doth stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
11 'Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house;
12 So shall the king desire thy beauty; for he is thy lord; and do homage unto him.
13 And, O daughter of Tyre, the richest of the people shall entreat thy favour with a gift.'
14 All glorious is the king's daughter within the palace; her raiment is of chequer work inwrought with gold.
15 She shall be led unto the king on richly woven stuff; the virgins her companions in her train being brought unto thee.
16 They shall be led with gladness and rejoicing; they shall enter into the king's palace.

17 Instead of thy fathers shall be thy sons, whom thou shalt make princes in all the land.
18 I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations; therefore shall the peoples praise thee for ever and ever.
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Translation from the Jewish Publication Society 1917 edition.
To hear the Psalm read in Hebrew: http://media.snunit.k12.il/kodeshm/mp3/t2645.mp3

Photo:
Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Ascension, Augusta Victoria, Mt. Scopus
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An Arab hospital in a German fortress

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We have seen some pictures of the Lutheran church at Augusta Victoria on Mt. Scopus; but today, for the That's My World tour, let's walk around the hospital part of the compound.
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We can enter through the gate house.
Kaiser Wilhelm II built the huge complex, completed in 1910, naming it after his wife, the Empress.
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It was built as a hostel for Christian pilgrims and as a rest home for the German population in Eretz Israel.
Many of the materials were imported from Germany.
It was the first building in the country to have electricity, powered by a diesel generator.
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Step in and be greeting by a fantastic doorway!
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I had to remind myself that I was entering an Arab hospital and not an old castle in Germany!
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Victory.

Trampling out the evil creatures.

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You don't often see gargoyles in Jerusalem!

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Here is the back of the building, which was fashioned as a medieval German fortress.

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During the last century it passed through many different hands.

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The Turkish army headquartered here from 1914 until they surrendered to the British in 1917.

Then it became General Allenby's HQ.

From 1920 to 1927, Augusta Victoria was the official residence of the British High Commissioner of the Palestine Mandate.

After damage from the big 1927 earthquake was repaired, it was converted to a hospital during World War II for the British forces.

From 1948 to 1967 it became under UN control in the buffer zone of Mount Scopus, but was actually a hospital for the Jordanian army.

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In the Six Day War of 1967 the second floor was destroyed by shelling between the Israeli paratroopers 55th Brigade and the Arab Legion.
After Israel's victory Augusta Victoria was incorporated into the unified city of Jerusalem, and today it is a 161-bed hospital serving parts of the Arab population.

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More photos and information at their website, Wikipedia, and BibleWalks.com.

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Bibelausstellung

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A wandering biblical exhibition has wandered from Linz and other European cities all the way to Jerusalem.
"Die Wanderausstellung 'Expedition Bibel' des Katholischen Bibelwerks Linz" opened last month at Augusta Victoria on the Mount of Olives.
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If my translation is right, the banner says "Bible Exhibition -- Discover our Bible with all the senses."
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The cutest part of it was this game for children.

I think they are supposed to stick the correct animal through the little doors, depending on what OT or NT passage is quoted.

They even had the tfillin that observant Jewish men put on their arm and head when praying.

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I was at the church for the Schneller Symposium that day. The lights were out in the Bible Exhibition and I think it was not officially open just then, but I just had to duck in quickly and snap a few furtive photos.

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Herrnhuter Stern, reflected

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Shadows of night at Church of the Ascension in the Augusta Victoria compound on Mount of Olives.
Strange what tricks stairs play on otherwise-normal shadows.
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And by day, a nice reflection of the fortress-like walls.
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The German Lutheran church is decorated with a Moravian star, a symbol of the Star of Bethlehem. And indeed, Bethlehem is very near.
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Wikipedia has the interesting story of how the Moravian star's geometry took shape.
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In German it is called the Herrnhuter Stern, named for the Moravian mother community in East Saxony, Germany, where the decorations were first commercially produced.
The Herrnhut Star Company in that city has been producing original Herrnhut Advent and Christmas stars for over 160 years.
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(The reflections and shadows are "Christmas gifts" for James at Weekend Reflections
and Hey Harriet at Shadow Shot Sunday.)
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Shabbat shalom to all.
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Stone eagles on Mt. of Olives

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We have been talking much about the Augusta Victoria complex on Mt. of Olives this week.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Ascension has a 60 meter tall bell tower.
When the church was built in the early 20th century, the four heavy bells came by ship from Hamburg to Jaffa.
BibleWalks.com says that bringing them from the coast "required rebuilding the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem."
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Two stone eagles stand in the garden.

The Adler with folded wings is a German imperial sign representing unity and power.

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What Kaiser Wilhelm II built in 1907-10 as a pilgrim hostel adjoining the church is today a hospital serving the Arab population of the Jerusalem area. (Photos will come soon.)
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The sign shows some of the other nice things that call Augusta Victoria home.

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Schneller Symposium today

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Another strange view from above.
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The chairs had taken a new twist in the sanctuary of the Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives.
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The altar and the wreath for Advent season.

I attended the International Schneller Symposium this afternoon in the "Kaisersalle" of the church.

Here is the panel discussion of the first lecturers.
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The subject was the Syrian Orphanage and the Schneller schools. More about that in the coming days.

The 100-year-old church in the Augusta Victoria compound was named after Kaiser Wilhelm II's wife.

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Ring in the new

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"Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a series of mathematical patterns called 'changes'. It differs from many other forms of campanology (such as carillon ringing) in that no attempt is made to produce a conventional melody."

(More in the Wiki article)

I have only heard change ringing at St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney.
The bells in this photo here hang in Jerusalem's Augusta Victoria bell tower on the Mount of Olives. I think these German bells are not rigged for change ringing, which is more of an old English tradition.

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A video of change ringers in action, pulling the ropes which turn the big bells 360 degrees, is here.

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City Daily Photo bloggers are sharing their ideas about changes for our Theme Day today.
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants
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The civil new year day is not a holiday in the Jewish State but we wish all who are celebrating a happy new year.

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Ring Out the Old, Ring In the New

(from "In Memoriam") by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (England 1809-1892)

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow;

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more;

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times;

Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

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(To see the last verse or to hear the music, see http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/r/i/ringout.htm.)

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ABC Wednesday at Augusta Victoria

To read the fine print please click on this photo:

Trowel and hammer used in 1907 to lay the cornerstone of the German Lutheran Church of the Ascension, aka Augusta Victoria, on the Mount of Olives.

Tall tower of the church.

To the tower or Turm in German.

Terrible news!

Too many stairs to the top of the bell tower. But the view was tops!

"T" is the letter of the week at ABC Wednesday, so see lots of other blogs with your tea at Mrs. Nesbitt's Place. 
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