DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5074#0196
178
JERUSALEM.
Indians expressing the trinity of fire, water, and air,
or spirit.
Outside this gate is the reputed, and probably the real,
Tomb of David, into the chamber of which not even the
Pasha is allowed to penetrate. The old Sheikh of the
mosque politely allowed us to see the imitation room
above the real Tomb, and then showed us the so-called
Cenaculum, a very pretty old Latin Church, with fine
vaultings and pointed arch windows, with the billet
moulding common in all the buildings of the time of the
Latin kings of Jerusalem,—the columns with handsome
and fanciful capitals—one of pelicans, another of vine
leaves, another of fruit, but all sadly disfigured with
whitewash. The tradition respecting this site, that it
was that of the upper chamber of the Last Supper, is as
old as the fourth century.
One of the most interesting of all the ancient places
about Jerusalem is the great sepulchre called the
" Tomb of the Kings," about half a mile, or rather
more, to the north of the Damascus Gate: a large
square has been excavated from the rock forming a court
(now sadly filled up) in front of the entrance, the sculp-
ture of which, although not apparently of a very early
date, was till lately an object of much interest and beauty,
when an American knocked the greater part of it down,
in order to take a few bits to his own country (it is a
pity, indeed, that there is no law for inflicting similar
injuries on the persons of such depredators) : the maiden-
hair fern and some shrubs have done their best to
re-ornament the excavation, but the two columns sup-
porting the rich frieze, and nearly all its ancient beauty,
are gone. The Tomb was closed by a most curiously-fitted
stone door, which could only be opened by means of a
lever removing it along a grooved passage, and was
JERUSALEM.
Indians expressing the trinity of fire, water, and air,
or spirit.
Outside this gate is the reputed, and probably the real,
Tomb of David, into the chamber of which not even the
Pasha is allowed to penetrate. The old Sheikh of the
mosque politely allowed us to see the imitation room
above the real Tomb, and then showed us the so-called
Cenaculum, a very pretty old Latin Church, with fine
vaultings and pointed arch windows, with the billet
moulding common in all the buildings of the time of the
Latin kings of Jerusalem,—the columns with handsome
and fanciful capitals—one of pelicans, another of vine
leaves, another of fruit, but all sadly disfigured with
whitewash. The tradition respecting this site, that it
was that of the upper chamber of the Last Supper, is as
old as the fourth century.
One of the most interesting of all the ancient places
about Jerusalem is the great sepulchre called the
" Tomb of the Kings," about half a mile, or rather
more, to the north of the Damascus Gate: a large
square has been excavated from the rock forming a court
(now sadly filled up) in front of the entrance, the sculp-
ture of which, although not apparently of a very early
date, was till lately an object of much interest and beauty,
when an American knocked the greater part of it down,
in order to take a few bits to his own country (it is a
pity, indeed, that there is no law for inflicting similar
injuries on the persons of such depredators) : the maiden-
hair fern and some shrubs have done their best to
re-ornament the excavation, but the two columns sup-
porting the rich frieze, and nearly all its ancient beauty,
are gone. The Tomb was closed by a most curiously-fitted
stone door, which could only be opened by means of a
lever removing it along a grooved passage, and was