DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27910#0041
THE MOSQUE OF AKSA,
AND DISTANT VIEW OF THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, JERUSALEM.
lliE traveller may seek for this view by entering the city at the Zion Gate, turning sharp
round to the right, and proceeding close by the wall, in the direction of the Temple area
iSWMWl He will probably pass on the outskirts of the Jews’ quarter a number of leprous persons
of both sexes, who crouch up by the way-side—clamorously soliciting alms from the
passer. These wretched people, whose appearance is exceedingly repulsive, and who subsist
entirely upon charity, are yet said to intermarry amongst their own class! In this outskirt
of the city, moreover, not only the eye is offended, but all the senses suffer severely. Run through it, I
entreat you, until you reach a deserted tract, and some cultivated land. Yes!—a ploughed field within
the walls of Jerusalem ! Ascend the wall at the corner of this field, and you will obtain the view which
I now give. You will see by the depth of that outer wall, what ruin, what debris of former grandeur has
accumulated within the walls. There is evidently at this point, some twenty-five feet of rubbish over the
original level of the soil; and this is probably not much more than the average deposit' which is now spread
over the whole city.
In sinking the foundations of the new Protestant Episcopal Church, which are based upon the solid
rock, many feet of rubbish had to be removed, and some curious remains of ancient construction were
discovered. Amongst the rubbish accumulated on other parts of Mount Zion, small quadrangular bricks, of a
light colour—the remains of tesselated pavement—are very abundant.
The Austrian Hospice, now in the course of erection, will be a large and substantial building: it is
probable that nothing equal to it has been produced within the walls since the time of the Crusaders. Its
foundations required deep and extensive excavations, but it does not appear that many objects of interest
were brought to light. To procure the stone for this building, a very fair road, about a league in length,
has been made to some ancient quarries, which had been re-opened for this purpose. The waggons—the
only wheeled carriages which we saw in use at Jerusalem—are the same which had formerly been employed
for the Balaklava railway.
Whatever difference of opinion there may be as to the expediency of having a society expressly constituted
for the conversion of Jews, there can be no doubt that a beneficial influence is exerted by the presence of
the good men and women connected with it, and more especially by the hospital which it maintains, under
the able management of Dr. Macgown and E. Atkinson, Esq. Notwithstanding the shyness which
difference of religious opinion is too apt to create, an amicable co-operation has, in many instances, been
the happy result, and these excellent medical officers are on friendly terms with their Israelite brethren.
The Christian schools connected with the mission, as well as the schools for girls established and maintained
by the liberality of Sir Moses Montefiore, and that supported by funds bequeathed by a wealthy German
for Israelite boys, are also productive of manifest advantages, not merely to Jerusalem, but to the
neighbouring country.
AND DISTANT VIEW OF THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, JERUSALEM.
lliE traveller may seek for this view by entering the city at the Zion Gate, turning sharp
round to the right, and proceeding close by the wall, in the direction of the Temple area
iSWMWl He will probably pass on the outskirts of the Jews’ quarter a number of leprous persons
of both sexes, who crouch up by the way-side—clamorously soliciting alms from the
passer. These wretched people, whose appearance is exceedingly repulsive, and who subsist
entirely upon charity, are yet said to intermarry amongst their own class! In this outskirt
of the city, moreover, not only the eye is offended, but all the senses suffer severely. Run through it, I
entreat you, until you reach a deserted tract, and some cultivated land. Yes!—a ploughed field within
the walls of Jerusalem ! Ascend the wall at the corner of this field, and you will obtain the view which
I now give. You will see by the depth of that outer wall, what ruin, what debris of former grandeur has
accumulated within the walls. There is evidently at this point, some twenty-five feet of rubbish over the
original level of the soil; and this is probably not much more than the average deposit' which is now spread
over the whole city.
In sinking the foundations of the new Protestant Episcopal Church, which are based upon the solid
rock, many feet of rubbish had to be removed, and some curious remains of ancient construction were
discovered. Amongst the rubbish accumulated on other parts of Mount Zion, small quadrangular bricks, of a
light colour—the remains of tesselated pavement—are very abundant.
The Austrian Hospice, now in the course of erection, will be a large and substantial building: it is
probable that nothing equal to it has been produced within the walls since the time of the Crusaders. Its
foundations required deep and extensive excavations, but it does not appear that many objects of interest
were brought to light. To procure the stone for this building, a very fair road, about a league in length,
has been made to some ancient quarries, which had been re-opened for this purpose. The waggons—the
only wheeled carriages which we saw in use at Jerusalem—are the same which had formerly been employed
for the Balaklava railway.
Whatever difference of opinion there may be as to the expediency of having a society expressly constituted
for the conversion of Jews, there can be no doubt that a beneficial influence is exerted by the presence of
the good men and women connected with it, and more especially by the hospital which it maintains, under
the able management of Dr. Macgown and E. Atkinson, Esq. Notwithstanding the shyness which
difference of religious opinion is too apt to create, an amicable co-operation has, in many instances, been
the happy result, and these excellent medical officers are on friendly terms with their Israelite brethren.
The Christian schools connected with the mission, as well as the schools for girls established and maintained
by the liberality of Sir Moses Montefiore, and that supported by funds bequeathed by a wealthy German
for Israelite boys, are also productive of manifest advantages, not merely to Jerusalem, but to the
neighbouring country.