Todd Bolen, Author at BiblePlaces.com

Facts About Jerusalem

An official government organization, the Jerusalem Development Authority, sent out their “Monthly Jerusalem Newsletter” today with these “Facts about Jerusalem.”

King David made Jerusalem the capital of Israel 3,000 years ago.
The Western Wall in the Old City is the last remaining wall of the ancient Second Jewish Temple which was destroyed by the Romans in 70CE.
For Christians, Jerusalem is the place where Jesus lived, preached, died, and was resurrected.
According to Islam, the prophet Muhammad was miraculously transported from Mecca to Jerusalem, and then ascended to Heaven.
Mishkenot Sha’ananim is the first area of habitation in Jerusalem outside the Old City walls. It’s building began in 1860.
Jerusalem today has over 10,000 hotel rooms with another 10,000 planned in the coming years.
The most visited site in Israel is in Jerusalem. It is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the traditional site of Jesus’ crucifixion.

See any problems?

Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Tagged Jerusalem

Weekend Roundup

The Museum at the Lowest Place on Earth is scheduled to open in April. Displays will share the history of the area, including artifacts from Bab edh-Dhra, Numeira, and the Monastery of Saint Lot.

The museum is located at Deir Ain Abata on the southeastern side of the Dead Sea.

The latest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review has been published. The cover story, not online, will be of interest to many readers here. Amihai Mazar asks “Was King Saul Impaled on the Wall of Beth Shean?” Hershel Shanks writes an editorial on ancient toilet practices.

Amazon is selling the brand-new Rose Guide to the Temple (previously recommended here) for only $20. I’m not sure how long that deal will last.

The life and work of British archaeologist John Garstang is now being celebrated in an exhibition at the Blackburn Museum.

Haaretz reports on some of the history and controversy of the early 20th century photographs of Elia Kahvedjian.

A visit to the synagogue of Baram provides a window to Jewish life in the land of Israel for the last 2,000 years.

HT: Jack Sasson, Joseph Lauer

Synagogue of Baram

Tagged Dead Sea, Galilee, Museums

Temple Mount Model at Christ Church, Jerusalem

A model of the Temple Mount (Haram esh-Sharif) made by Conrad Schick in 1873 has been put on permanent display at the Heritage Center of Christ Church in Jerusalem. From Haaretz:

The model was made 140 years ago by the architect and archaeologist Conrad Schick, whose work in Jerusalem was supported by the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews. Its details reveal that its creator had access to places where no Western scholar of his day was allowed.
“Every time they dug a hole in the Temple Mount, he ran there to examine it,” said Prof. Haim Goren of Tel Hai Academic College, an expert on Schick’s work.
Schick, who made the model in an orphanage’s woodworking workshop where he taught, crafted it for display at the 1873 Vienna World’s Fair. It’s four meters long and three meters wide.
Like many of Schick’s models, this one had dozens of parts that could be dismantled to show inner, underground areas.
“It’s not only beautiful, it’s also an important research tool, because it was built by a man who visited every pit and understood the topography in a way we can’t fathom,” Gibson said.

The full story is here. You can read more about Conrad Schick at a website dedicated to him. They have many photos of the model at Christ Church, his 1879 model of the Temple Mount, his models at the Schmidt’s Girls School, and others.

Temple Mount model by Conrad Schick. (Photo source)

Tagged Jerusalem, Tourism

Follow-up on Givat Yona

In contrast to the IAA report on the Givat Yona excavations (previously criticized here), Ran Shapira has written a well-researched and accurate report on the excavations of the site within modern Ashdod.

A commenter on the previous blog post also observed that the place “of Saint Jonah” is depicted on the Medeba Map (c. AD 600). As can be seen in the photo below, its location is quite a bit north of Ashdod and in the area of Dan’s (original) tribal allotment. The map probably refers to Tell Yunis, 4 miles (6.5 km) south of Joppa.

It may also be noted that the Survey of Western Palestine records about half a dozen sites preserving the name Jonah, most of them in Galilee.

Medeba map showing the place of Jonah in the vicinity of Joppa, not Ashdod

Tagged Analysis, Discoveries

Wednesday Roundup

The Travels through Bible Lands Collection (15 vols.) is available until Friday noon for $20. I recommended this set of books by Tristram, Layard, Merrill, Jessup, and others some time ago, but sufficient orders have been placed and this Logos software deal is now closing.

The Israel Museum is being criticized for not allowing photographs to be taken of their artifacts.

Wikipedia says these items belong to the world. The Israel Museum wants to make money by selling their own photographs. Jim Davila suggests that the world has changed and the Israel Museum should reformulate its policies.

Leon Mauldin has written a helpful and illustrated article about Azazel, the Scapegoat.

Tom Powers discusses the new visitor center in the City of David and some misinformation in the reporting.

A rabbi says that selling stones from the Western Wall on eBay is akin to embezzlement from God.

On the edge of the “Grand Canyon of Israel,” Mizpe Ramon is struggling to find its way.

I’ve always thought that the chief “dynamic” of the Jordan River was as a barrier (cf. Josh 22; Judg 12). Wayne Stiles makes a good case that we should think of it as a place of “transitions.”

Jordan River

Tagged Jerusalem, Museums, Resources

New Visitor Center Approved for City of David

In 1995, the construction of a visitor center above the Gihon Spring was halted with the discovery of some massive Middle Bronze towers. Today the ugly shell of the building hovers over the site with no apparent intention of ever being completed.

Yesterday the Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee approved the plan for another visitor center for the City of David, this one located in the former Givati parking lot below Dung Gate (aerial photo here). This is the same area where archaeologists have claimed to have excavated the palace of Queen Helene of Adiabene. Haaretz reports:

The new visitors’ center is to be built above the Givati parking lot and will be called the Mercaz Kedem (Kedem Center). The building will be built on stilts and beneath it there will be an area where visitors can view recently discovered archeological findings. The Elad organization promoted the plan and it obtained the support of Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, who appeared before the district committee earlier today to voice his support.
The Israel Antiquities Authority’s Jerusalem District director, Dr. Yuval Baruch, also expressed support for the plan, despite the presence of archeological findings under the building. “This is one of the most important projects in Jerusalem in recent generations. It would be impossible to find a serious archeologist with a bad word to say about the conduct of the excavations,” said Baruch. “The building as it stands is approved by the Israel Antiquities Authority and was presented to the authority in dozens of meetings.
All of the changes the Antiquities Authority requested were included in Arie Rahamimov’s plan: the number of parking spaces was reduced, and the height of the building was limited so it would not overshadow the height of the Old City wall (the difference is one meter). There is an important link here between the Ophel Garden, the City of David and the Western Wall and the creation of a direct link between the sites. We led the way to this result.”
The building, designed by architect Arie Rahamimov, will also include a parking lot for the use of visitors to the City of David, exhibition space and classrooms and on the roof, there are plans to build a plaza and observation deck overlooking Silwan and the Old City walls.

The full article includes an artist’s rendering of the new complex.

HT: Joseph Lauer

Givati Parking Lot Excavations, January 2010

Givati Parking Lot Excavations, January 2012

Tagged Excavations, Jerusalem, Tourism