Tourism Archives - Page 92 of 96

Mount Zion Vandalism, Filmmakers in Galilee

The Caspari Center Media Review has two unrelated stories that may be of interest to readers here:

Signposts and directions to the Cenacle [Upper Room on Mount Zion] were defaced by anonymous vandals this past week, adding insult to the injury felt by Christian tourists faced with the piles of refuse and rubbish it contains and making it difficult for them to find their way to the site (Yediot Yerushalayim, March 19).
Other Christian sites are no more attractive to pilgrims, according to a report in Ma’ariv (March 21). According to Yuval Peled, who accompanied a group of Italians who had come to film the Galilee in which Jesus grew up, lived, and taught, “After two or three days of shooting, they abruptly announced that they were leaving. ‘They told us, “You’ve destroyed the story for us, with all the pollution, electricity wires, and infrastructure. This isn’t what we were taught about the place where Jesus grew up,”‘ he recalls. The crew, which had planned to broadcast the film on Italian television – the country considered to be the capital of Christianity – told us that here, in the most authentic place in which the founder of their religion lived, we had destroyed their associations [to it] with pollution and infrastructure. Out of disappointment and despair, they left, and went to shoot the film in Tuscany.”

This sounds like a bit of an overreaction to me. I don’t like the pollution and wires either, but Galilee is remarkably primitive. Imagine what the lakeshore would be like if it was in the U.S.

I can’t say I have ever thought of Italy as the “capital of Christianity.”

Tagged Galilee, Italy, Jerusalem, Tourism

One Million Kippot Donated to Western Wall

From the Jerusalem Post:

Visitors no longer have to hold cardboard kippot on their heads when visiting the Kotel: The Western Wall Heritage Foundation has received a donation of 1 million nylon yarmulkes.
According to a statement Wednesday from the office of the rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites, the distinct and sometimes awkward cardboard head coverings that have been offered to male visitors to the site for 40 years have been replaced.
The white cloth yarmulkes, which were apparently made in China to cut costs, were given to the foundation on Sunday and are now available for use at the entrance to the Kotel area.
Though this is not the first time new yarmulkes have been donated to the Kotel, said the rabbi’s assistant on Wednesday, this is the first time there has been a large enough number to accommodate the more than eight million people who visit the site each year.
[. . .]
The new yarmulkes, like the cardboard ones, are considered “disposable” – people are allowed to take them home. But the old ones may become a collector’s item: Some are being sold on ebay for $6.

The full story is here. You can buy a cardboard kippah on ebay here. If you’re wondering why it’s sometimes called a kippah and why sometimes yarmulke or even what one is and why they’re so important, this Wikipedia article has some good information.

Men praying at Western Wall

Tagged Jerusalem, Tourism

Two New Trails and 150 Restored Sites

Israel is planning to build two new trails in conjunction with the restoration of 150 historic sites. A number of sites on the list have been mentioned as in need of restoration here before, including Lachish, Hurvat Madras [Khirbet Midras], and the Sanhedrin Garden. We’re a big fan of a number of other sites on the list as well, though we see less need for restoration on some than for others.

Sometimes government involvement makes things worse not better, a case in point being the new Arbel National Park. Trails, however, are always good.

Haaretz reports:

The government is planning on spending NIS 500 million ($135 million) over five years to restore and preserve heritage sites across the country.
[. . .]
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu devoted a large part of his address at the Herzliya Conference to outlining the plan.
“The guarantee of our existence is dependent not merely on weapons systems or military strength or economic strength or our innovativeness, our exports, and all these forces which are indeed so vital to us,” he said. “It is dependent first and foremost on the intellectual capacity and the national feelings that we inculcate – from parents to children, and as a state, in our educational system.”
Netanyahu said that he plans to present a blueprint to the government on February 25 that will include, among other things, the inauguration of two trails, in addition to the existing Israel National Trail (“Shvil Yisrael”).
One is an historical trail connecting dozens of archaeological sites, and the second is an “Israeli Experience” trail linking up over 100 places important to the nation’s more recent history and will include buildings that are to be preserved, settlement sites, small museums and memorials.
[. . .]
At Tel Lachish, which Netanyahu referred to in his speech, the plan is to restore the gate into the city and the city walls, to prepare trails, to build an entrance hall and to add signposts, among other things.
Other sites marked for restoration are Neot Kedumim, Susya, Qumran, Jason’s Tomb in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin Garden, the Eshkolot Cave, Umm al-Amad, the Beit Shean antiquities, Tel Megiddo, Tiberias, Tel Arad, Tel Dan, Hurvat Madras, the park around the Old City of Jerusalem and the City of David.
There are another 109 heritage sites and projects earmarked for restoration and preservation. They are to be found throughout the country and include such sites as the Independence Hall in Tel Aviv, the Aronson farm and the signaling station at Atlit, the Emek train between Haifa and Tzemah and the Tzemah train station, the Old Courtyard Museum at Ein Shemer, the original homes of the settlers at Migdal in Ashkelon, the street of the Biluim and the winery in Gedera, the courtyard at Kinneret, the Montefoire [sic] quarter of Tel Aviv, the agricultural school at Mikveh Yisrael, the old Jerusalem train station and others.

You can read the article here.

HT: Paleojudaica

Lachish gate (foreground) and palace (top), in a state of neglect. These buildings date to the late Iron Age, a time when Lachish was the second most important city in Judah (after Jerusalem).

Tagged Galilee, Jerusalem, Shephelah, Tourism

Jerusalem’s Old City Wall Being Repaired

First-time tourists excited to see the walls of the Old City may be a bit disappointed in 2010. Scaffolding has been erected along sections of the western and southern walls in an effort to restore the Turkish wall built in 1540. From Haaretz:

Three years ago a stone from the Old City wall in Jerusalem fell into a church school yard next door. Fears that the wall was crumbling spawned a complex project to restore its stones while preserving traces of history left by inscriptions, shells and animals.
It turned out later that the stone had fallen from a Jordanian support column rather than the Ottoman wall. But by then the NIS 15 million renovation project was already on its way.
[…]
As elsewhere in the world, Jerusalem’s wall consists of two stone walls with earth in between. The greatest threat is from water penetrating the stone layers, causing the stones to shift and topple. The renovators must seal the cracks without changing the wall’s facade. In some cases they have no choice but to replace a flawed stone at the cost of changing its original color or appearance.
“We don’t clean the stones completely,” says Mashiah. “The wall doesn’t have to look like a new building. It should remain ancient.”
[…]
The wall’s renovation is due to be completed in about a year, except for the section surrounding the Temple Mount, where the Muslim Waqf trust refused to allow restoration work. The owners of various sections of the interior wall also refused the renovators access.
The Zion Gate, ravaged by thousands of shells in the War of Independence and by exhaust fumes and countless car collisions, has been painstakingly renovated. The memorial stone for the Harel Brigade combatants, which blocked one of the gate’s lattices, has been moved.

Read the full story here.

HT: Joe Lauer

Jaffa Gate under renovation, January 2010

Southern wall of Old City under renovation, January 2010

Tagged Jerusalem, Tourism

360 Degree Views in Jerusalem

360 degree views in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher – if you didn’t want to stand in the long line to enter the tomb, this gives you a perfect view without the crowds, noise, or fragrances.

360 degree views in the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque – if you’re not Muslim, you can’t stand in a line long enough. One other 360 degree view is the Western Wall, but these photos are less unique. The entry point to all three sites is here.

Line to enter tomb at Church of Holy Sepulcher, earlier this month. One tour guide estimated the wait time to be two hours.

Tagged Jerusalem, Tourism

Baptismal Site to Open on Israeli Side

From Haaretz:

In the winter of 2003, Saar Kfir, director of the Qasr al-Yahud site, stood not far from the swelling Jordan River. It was indeed beautiful, but the rising waters caused considerable damage to the comprehensive plan for upgrading and expanding the site, located east of the town of Jericho, where John the Baptist is said to have baptized Jesus. The project, which was originally approved in advance of the millennium celebrations – and was delayed because of the intifada and, later, by the 2003 floods – is now in its final phases.
When it is completed, hopefully before Passover, it will be possible for pilgrims to visit the third-most-important Christian site in Israel at their convenience: any day of the week, without advance coordination and without a military escort, as were necessary in the past.
Qasr al-Yahud, or “the Jews’ fortress” (a corruption of the Arabic meaning, “the Jews’ break”), is traditionally the place where the Israelites crossed over (that is, “broke”) the Jordan River and where Elijah the Prophet ascended to heaven, as well as where Jesus was baptized.
On January 18 and 19, the Orthodox Churches will celebrate Epiphany at the site, marking the “revelation” of Jesus to the three kings from the East. “This is one of the only authentic celebrations that remain in this country,” says Udi Izak, director of the school system in the Megillot regional council, in the Dead Sea region.

Read the whole article for a history of celebrations since 1967.

Jordan River, Ceremony of Epiphany, mat06788

Epiphany celebration at Jordan River, early 1900s

This photo is taken from the Southern Palestine volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-06788).

Tagged American Colony Photos, Tourism