Ein Kerem and Chagall Windows
An Arab village prior to the Six Day War of 1967, the hilltop village of Ein Kerem on the western outskirts of Jerusalem is home to a number of churches, including the Church of the Visitation. The visit in question is that of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth after Gabriel had told her she would give birth to "the Son of the Most High". The church has tablets with the words of Mary's song of praise ("Magnificat") in more than 40 languages, including Cantonese, and is mercifully short of tour groups.
Inaccessible to the public, the building with the onion domes is the Gorny Monastery, which comprises two Orthodox churches as well as a monastery.
French Jewish artist Marc Chagall created twelve windows for installation in the synagogue of Israel's largest hospital, the Hadassar Medical Centre, near Ein Kerem. Illuminated by natural light, each window represents one of the twelve tribes of Israel, named after the sons of Jacob. Very impressive stuff and well worth a visit if you are in the area. There's no need to book in advance, but it was quite chaotic when I got there, so, to be sure of getting an Englsih-speaking tour guide, its probably best to do so.
Church of St Peter in Gallicantu
St Peter in Gallicantu ("cock-crow"), in the Mount Zion area, just south of the Old City, is one of the more tranquil churches in Jerusalem, especially if you get there at 8.30am, which is when it opens. Rebuilt on the site of older churches in the 1920s, the building was damaged during the War of Independence in 1948, subsequently patched up and then extensively and tastefully renovated in the 1990s. It is administered by the French Augustinians of the Assumption.
A stone's throw from St Peter's is the grave of Oskar Schindler, the German businessman made famous first by Thomas Keneally's book Schindler's Ark and then by Stephen Spielberg's film of a similar name. The German on the stone reads "The unforgettable rescuer of 1,200 persecuted Jews", although my elementary German leads me to believe that lebenretter should read lebensretter.
Car park in Paul Emile Botha Street
Finally, no mention of Jerusalem is complete without a mention of a car park where you can park for free for as long as you like. It's on Paul Emile Botha Street, which is off King David Street near the King David Hotel. If you have a car in Jerusalem, as you might well do, especially if you intend to make only a short stay in the capital, get to this place after 7pm or before 6.30am, and you can park on what is essentially wasteland. It gets very busy and cars park close together, so it's worth going there when it's most empty and choosing a nice space at the rear of the area, where no one can park directly behind or in front of you.
It's de rigueur in Israel to have scratches and bumps on your motor, so I was very pleased to find my hire car had received no news ones, in addition to the many it had already sustained, while parked there for three nights. So surprised were the car hire people (Sixt-Shlomo) when I returned the car after a fortnight with a report of no scrapes that they spent a good seven or eight minutes inspecting it, the original inspector calling out to the prefab office for reinforcements, before declaring it undamaged.
An Arab village prior to the Six Day War of 1967, the hilltop village of Ein Kerem on the western outskirts of Jerusalem is home to a number of churches, including the Church of the Visitation. The visit in question is that of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth after Gabriel had told her she would give birth to "the Son of the Most High". The church has tablets with the words of Mary's song of praise ("Magnificat") in more than 40 languages, including Cantonese, and is mercifully short of tour groups.
Inaccessible to the public, the building with the onion domes is the Gorny Monastery, which comprises two Orthodox churches as well as a monastery.
French Jewish artist Marc Chagall created twelve windows for installation in the synagogue of Israel's largest hospital, the Hadassar Medical Centre, near Ein Kerem. Illuminated by natural light, each window represents one of the twelve tribes of Israel, named after the sons of Jacob. Very impressive stuff and well worth a visit if you are in the area. There's no need to book in advance, but it was quite chaotic when I got there, so, to be sure of getting an Englsih-speaking tour guide, its probably best to do so.
Church of St Peter in Gallicantu
St Peter in Gallicantu ("cock-crow"), in the Mount Zion area, just south of the Old City, is one of the more tranquil churches in Jerusalem, especially if you get there at 8.30am, which is when it opens. Rebuilt on the site of older churches in the 1920s, the building was damaged during the War of Independence in 1948, subsequently patched up and then extensively and tastefully renovated in the 1990s. It is administered by the French Augustinians of the Assumption.
A stone's throw from St Peter's is the grave of Oskar Schindler, the German businessman made famous first by Thomas Keneally's book Schindler's Ark and then by Stephen Spielberg's film of a similar name. The German on the stone reads "The unforgettable rescuer of 1,200 persecuted Jews", although my elementary German leads me to believe that lebenretter should read lebensretter.
Car park in Paul Emile Botha Street
Finally, no mention of Jerusalem is complete without a mention of a car park where you can park for free for as long as you like. It's on Paul Emile Botha Street, which is off King David Street near the King David Hotel. If you have a car in Jerusalem, as you might well do, especially if you intend to make only a short stay in the capital, get to this place after 7pm or before 6.30am, and you can park on what is essentially wasteland. It gets very busy and cars park close together, so it's worth going there when it's most empty and choosing a nice space at the rear of the area, where no one can park directly behind or in front of you.
It's de rigueur in Israel to have scratches and bumps on your motor, so I was very pleased to find my hire car had received no news ones, in addition to the many it had already sustained, while parked there for three nights. So surprised were the car hire people (Sixt-Shlomo) when I returned the car after a fortnight with a report of no scrapes that they spent a good seven or eight minutes inspecting it, the original inspector calling out to the prefab office for reinforcements, before declaring it undamaged.
2 comments:
is that church on a slope or are my eyes deceiving me?
I was going through the watery Hezekiah's tunnel a little later that day, so I had brought along only my daughter's Fuji point and shoot rather than my Canon DSLR. Upshot was I leant said machine on the back of the seat in front for support, and managed to avoid the dreaded shake at low shutter speed but at the expense of a bit of tilt. Will take a spirit level next time.
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