Why this Jerusalem square is named for a caliph

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City Daily Photo bloggers are posting today on the theme "Look down."
Here we are looking down on Omar ibn al-Khatab Square, just inside Jaffa Gate.
Enlarge the photo a few times and you can pick out a bagel pushcart, shopkeepers, tourists, police, Arabs, and Jews.
Under the white canopy a bar mitzvah boy is returning from his bar mitzvah ceremony at the Western Wall, preceded by musicians with drum, flute, and shofar.

To take the looking-down photos I had climbed many tall stairs to reach the top of  Phasael Tower observatory.
Built in the 1st century BCE,  Phasael was one of three huge guard towers built by Herod the Great close to his palace in Jerusalem's Old City.
Its upper section, with the smaller stones, is a much later Mamluk reconstruction.

All of this is today part of the Citadel,  the Tower of David museum of Jerusalem's history.

In this informative article by guides Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am, we learn why the plaza was named for a Caliph:

One of the Old City of Jerusalem’s liveliest streets is actually a small plaza called Omar iben Al-Khatab Square, named for the second Caliph of the Islamic world.. . .

Brilliant, sensitive, tolerant and an administrative whiz, Omar visited Jerusalem soon after Muslim Arabs conquered the Holy City in 638. Omar revered many of the Old Testament’s most significant personalities, and greatly honored Judaism’s holy sites – including the peak on which Solomon erected the magnificent First Temple.

Thus when he ascended to the Temple Mount and found it overflowing with trash, Omar was enraged. He immediately ordered the rubbish removed — and, say some, he helped clear it out with his own hands.

At one point Jerusalem Bishop Sophronius invited the Caliph to join him for prayers inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Omar is said to have refused, explaining that were he to accept, Muslims might immediately ravish this most important of Christian sites and replace it with a mosque dedicated to Islam. He then proceeded to pray outside the church — exactly where a mosque named for the Caliph is located today.

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X-ing out your enemy

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(Give the photo a click or two to read the text.)

My word of the week for ABC Wednesday is  XENOPHOBIA.

(zěn'ə-fō'bē-ə, zē'nə-) Fear and contempt of strangers or foreign peoples.

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In ancient Egypt the custom was to inscribe on a figurine the name of your enemy and appropriate curses. 

Then in an ancient ritual the figurine was smashed and the curses were activated, in the belief that this would break the enemy's power.

One such clay figurine bears on its chest the name Rusulimum (Jerusalem) and names of other enemy Canaanite cities.

I myself almost "fainted" when I first saw this display at Jerusalem's Tower of David Museum!

What an idea! 

Talk about the power of words . . . Talk about hatred of foreign peoples . . . !

Can you imagine ever doing such a thing? 

(BTW, "thing" and "word" are both expressed in Hebrew by the word davar. In the old days, a word was not just a sound you heard. No. A word was a thing in itself, having its own existence, carrying power. And if you know a person's name, you have power over him; you call out his name and he stops and turns around.)

The clay figurine is a copy of the original, courtesy of the Royal Museum of Art and History, Brussels.

The execration (!) text is from Egypt, 19th to 18th century BCE.

execration
1382, from Latin execrationem, noun of action from execrari "to hate, curse," from ex- "out" + sacrare "to devote to holiness or to destruction, consecrate," from sacer "sacred"

1. the act of execrating
2. a curse or imprecation: "The execrations of the prophet terrified the sinful multitude."
3. the object execrated; a thing held in abomination

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See also "execration" in Jeremiah's strong words: Jer. 42:18:

18“For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Just as My anger and fury were poured out on Jerusalem’s residents,  so will My fury pour out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing, scorn,  execration, and disgrace, and you will never see this place again.’ 19The LORD has spoken concerning you, remnant of Judah: ‘Don’t go to Egypt.’ Know for certain that I have warned you today!

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Shalom, dear blog readers, and blessings be upon you.

 

(Linking to ABC Wednesday.)

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Ramadan mubarak

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Ramadan karim

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(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)

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Towers soar skyward

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Which is taller, which more important for security, which will defend the city better?
The old stronghold of the Citadel with its towering Tower of David?
Or the modern tall antenna on the Kishle police station?

The view is from outside the Old City wall.
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(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)
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Jerusalem, old and new

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View from the Tower of David (the Citadel).
The ramparts of the Citadel in the foreground.
People passing through Jaffa Gate (enlarge the photo to see them).
Continuing to the right of the  gate, the ancient city wall of the Old City.
West of the wall, the new city.
Jerusalem. 
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(Linking to Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.)

The Citadel, doves, and the Pope

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While spending Thursday, which was our International Museum Day, at the Tower of David, I noticed that birds feel very safe inside the courtyard.
The Citadel, protected by  ancient walls and a dry moat, is like the Garden of Eden for them, especially since-- unlike anywhere else in Israel-- I didn't see one single cat roaming around.

This pigeon is a good example.
I took five shots of it, each time moving a step closer, and still it did not fly away. 
No fear.

On a stone near the Garden of Herbs,

both a sparrow and a dove were busy preening.
You can see their ruffled feathers if you enlarge the photo.
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But the very best dove pictures of the week come from the Vatican!
Papa Francesco was doing a tour of St. Peter's Square in the Popemobile, blessing the cheering crowd when someone sent over a bird cage to him.
The Pope just opened the cage, pulled out the white doves, and launched them (even though the second one sat on his hand and didn't want to leave).
You will enjoy the little video.
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Happy Pentecost to all the Catholics and Protestants who celebrate it tonight and tomorrow!
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(A post for Camera Critters meme.)
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Sharing the view

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Israel has been having rare May rain in the last few days.
When I got to Jerusalem at noon clouds were everywhere, but they didn't drop any rain.

The Tower of David, our museum for the history of Jerusalem, was having a free admission day for International Museum Day, the 2013 theme of which is  Memory + creativity = social change.
The rest of the world has IMD on Saturday, May 18. 

This scene I found after climbing to the top of the Phasael tower.
On one side of the observation deck a class of Arab school kids with their teacher.
On the other, a group of young soldiers learning about Jerusalem from a Jewish guide.

Here is the splendid view they were all looking at--the Old City and beyond, the Mount of Olives and Mt. Scopus!
Except this last shot is from 4:30, after the bright sun had come out.
Only a long line of clouds remained, to the east, where the desert begins.

I climbed the tall tower a second time, with SkyWatch Friday in mind.
You can enlarge the photos with a click and a second click to get a better look at our city that is like none other.
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It's a bloomin' glacis!

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The grass in the moat and the vegetation on the glacis is bright green and thriving with the abundant winter rains we are having.
A glacis is a bank sloping down from a fort which exposes attackers to the defenders' missiles, the dictionary says.
The nice Hebrew word for glacis  is a "chalaklakah," meaning literally, very slippery.
This one is part of the 12th century Crusader fortification system of the Citadel (of Tower of David).
It was later repaired by the Ottomans. 

The dry moat was "probably built during the Crusader period (twelfth century) and originally reached the entrance and was partly spanned by a wooden drawbridge," according to the sign.

That is easier to understand if you look at an earlier post with pictures of the present-day bridge.
Or at this post with night photos of the beautifully floodlit bridge.

Oh, and a nice little bonus is the group of nuns in black walking past the Citadel.  (Just click on the photo once and then once again.)
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)

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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Jerusalem by night

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For SkyWatch Friday, the black dome of the heavens above Jerusalem!

The Old City was lit up last week with dozens of dazzling light displays for the 4th International Light Festival.

At the foot of the newly rebuilt Hurva Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter--a whirling "Meetings Composition" with its movements triggered by the location of the spectator.

At the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer--dynamic illumination to nice music.

Illuminated narrow street in the Armenian Quarter.

At Jaffa Gate--the Italian "Cupola."

But even with "just" her normal illumination, the Old City is beautiful, so beautiful.
Here, the Western Wall and above it, the Temple Mount with the Muslim Dome of the Rock and el Aksa mosque.

The Citadel or Tower of David.

Hundreds of thousands walked along the old city wall and entered by various gates.
Enlarge the photo to see the people.
In the sky above the Latin Patriarchate, a big Vatican flag.

The Old City and the new city.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
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Arms

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ABC Wednesday is in its fifth year, an amazing accomplishment for A-Day.
Adding to the group effort, I hereby add ARMY MEN and their ARMS.

Thinking to eat my granola bar in the normally empty little garden adjacent to the Tower of David, I entered and was amazed to see some soldiers there!

And their arms were in piles. Automatic rifles everywhere.

Their backpacks were assembled just outside the Old City wall, next to the Jaffa Gate, with one soldier guarding them.
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In guided tours, IDF soldiers are taught about Jerusalem, Israel, and all the heritage as part of their training.
But the young men and women certainly don't want to schlepp their pekelach all over the Old City.
And the churches and museums do not allow weapons inside.
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But I have never seen such an "arsenal" as was assembled there in the garden a few weeks ago!
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Bird bath in a hidden oasis

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Click on the photo to see the wet bird!

Birds of a feather, the sparrows and I share a secret.
They know this is a safe private place for bathing and I know it is a calm empty place for my picnic.

Finding any spot to sit and eat your sandwich in Jerusalem's small and crowded Old City is not easy.
This little garden just outside the entrance to the Tower of David (the Citadel) seems to be like a secret garden because most of the time no one is there. Except birds.
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These birdies are for Camera-Critters Sunday.
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Different angles

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The booth in which the ticket sellers stand seems to have been just made for James' Weekend Reflections.
In the lower part of the box office, even the building across the street is reflected, complete with its parapet.
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Or, you can capture the ancient stones of the Citadel itself, and red benches as a bonus.

If you climb on a bench and raise the camera way over your head, you can catch a few red roofs and satellite dishes of the Old City reflected in the main gate of the Tower of David.

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Hmm, I wonder what people thought, seeing me kneeling in front of a box office photographing glass.

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Floodlights on the Citadel

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We looked at this bridge in an earlier post for Louis' Sunday Bridges.
But that was in the daytime.

Take a look at night!!
The Tower of David (the Citadel) is even more glorious at night.
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On the right is the 16th century gatehouse.
The dry moat was built earlier, probably in Crusader times (12th C.).
The moat originally reached the entrance and was partly spanned by a wooden drawbridge.
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The people you see on the present wooden bridge were lined up waiting to go in to the sound and light show inside the courtyard.
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Here is the continuation of the bridge up to the big heavy entrance gate.

The Citadel has something nice for Hey Harriet's Shadow Shots Sunday too.

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Floodlit from below, the rusticated stones throw sharp shadows.

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Rustication (leaving the center of the stone rough and projecting) has a military purpose.
It protects the joints of the masonry and when struck by projectiles, it is more likely than smooth masonry to dissipate their force by fracturing harmlessly.
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Imagine yourself a Crusader attacking the Citadel, looking up at these tall walls with those fearsome arrow slits and machicolations!

That wall is on the left in this photo, the bridge and entrance are on the right, and in between, behind the low wall is a lovely garden with a bubbling fountain and benches and little trees.

The garden is my favorite secluded place for a picnic in Jerusalem's Old City.

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Bridge over the Citadel moat

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It is very little, but it is a bridge.
And today it is for Louis la Vache's Sunday Bridges.

The wooden bridge crosses the dry moat around Jerusalem's Citadel, also (erroneously) called the Tower of David.

Here's a shot from the other side.

You pass through the ornamental gate, cross the bridge, and enter the Citadel.

Antiquities inside date back to the 2nd century BCE, but most of what we see today is from the Medieval period.

After the Ottoman victory in the 16th century, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who also built the present Old City walls, constructed the monumental entrance.

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Sitting inside history

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Just behind the Old City ramparts stands the ancient Citadel.
Now, for the first time in thousands of years, it no longer serves a strategic purpose.
Also known as the Tower of David, this fort has been turned into the museum for the history of Jerusalem.
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I went searching for benches in the Citadel courtyard.

This one sits inside the remains of a tower, part of the city fortifications from the Second Temple period (1st century of the Common Era).
This tower was built on an even earlier tower.

If you'd like more shade, try sitting under the olive tree.

You could sit for hours, just enjoying the uniqueness of each stone in the wall and in the ground.

Nearby, the postern leads to a secret passageway connecting the moat to the interior of the Citadel.

The herb garden is in memory of Nehama and Menache Mani.

The benches are just beyond that solitary arch.

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From the tower, the view of the courtyard and of old and new Jerusalem and beyond is fantastic!

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A bridge between cultures

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Uh-oh, I'm running out of Israeli bridges for Louis la Vache's "Sunday Bridges."

How about a bridge between ancient cultures?

This 3D map has been touched by so many pointing guides at the Tower of David Museum that you can hardly make out the names.

"Situated in the Fertile Crescent, stretching along the Mediterranean Coast, the ancient Land of Israel (Canaan) served as a vital corridor between continents, a cultural bridge and a buffer between the two mighty civilizations on its borders--Egypt and the kingdoms of Mesopotamia. "

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