JERUSALEM: CITY WALL AND MOSQUE OF OMAR
0 write merely what I myself have observed in a locality which has been described by many
more competent and careful travellers, would be a piece of vanity which I hope satisfactorily
to avoid by giving my readers in this and succeeding articles an epitome of the surprisingly
varied and eventful history of this fallen queen of cities. Let me, however, first “explain” the
Photograph. The present walls of Jerusalem, which were built by the Saracens about 700
years ago—although excluding large spaces which were comprehended in the ancient city—
are still a “world too wide” for its shrunk dimensions: accordingly we find a considerable space of waste
ground within, and running almost the whole round of these walls. Here (in my picture) is a piece of it,
with a few bushes of prickly pear, on the left of the picture. On the other hand is a portion of the interior
of the city wall. The accumulation of rubbish is so great on this inner side that the outer wall is fully
20 feet deeper: indeed, it is pretty-clear that the general level of the original Jewish city must be on an average
of at least 20 feet below the present surface. The space which intervenes between the foreground of this
picture and the mosque is the Tyropoean Valley, over which was a bridge connecting the Mounts Moriah and
Zion. Some large stones, representing the spring of an arch, which are found in the outer wall of the temple
area, are conjectured to mark the commencement of this bridge. They were first brought into notice by
Dr. Robinson, and constitute one of the very few remnants of early Jewish masonry now existing in
Jerusalem.
The entire temple area, upon which now stand the mosques of Omar and Aksa, besides other buildings, is
called by the Moslems, El Haram-esh-Sherif, or the “ Holy Sanctuary.” The great mosque they call Kubbet-
es-Lukkrah, or “ Dome of the Rock.” It is a handsome octagonal building, standing on a platform near the
centre of the area, from which it is elevated by several steps. It was in a.d. 636 that the Caliph Omar, the
reputed founder of this mosque, took possession of the Holy City; but it is also related that it was rebuilt by
the Caliph Abd-el-Melek, in the year 686. In 1099, when the Crusaders, under Godfrey of Bouillon, took
Jerusalem, a vast number of the Mohammedan inhabitants sought refuge within the sacred enclosure; the
“ Christians,” however, broke in upon them, and committed the most terrible atrocities—neither age nor sex
were spared. According to Christian writers more than 10,000 (the Arab authors say 70,000) were slain
around this mosque, and “the whole area was covered ankle deep with blood.” Then the “Christians” made
haste to consecrate this place to its original worship; but, in 1187, the Moslems again, under Saladin, recovered
the city, and purified the sacred precincts with rose-water from Damascus, and from that day they have not
ceased to cherish and venerate it as the most sacred spot of earth, after the Kabeh of Mecca. And now a
“Christian dog” cannot‘approach it by the ramparts on the walls, nor look into it, without a rude growl
from a jealous Cerberus.
I have thus given my readers a dash of history, although not in the form which I intended: I reserve
the commencement of the story for another occasion.
0 write merely what I myself have observed in a locality which has been described by many
more competent and careful travellers, would be a piece of vanity which I hope satisfactorily
to avoid by giving my readers in this and succeeding articles an epitome of the surprisingly
varied and eventful history of this fallen queen of cities. Let me, however, first “explain” the
Photograph. The present walls of Jerusalem, which were built by the Saracens about 700
years ago—although excluding large spaces which were comprehended in the ancient city—
are still a “world too wide” for its shrunk dimensions: accordingly we find a considerable space of waste
ground within, and running almost the whole round of these walls. Here (in my picture) is a piece of it,
with a few bushes of prickly pear, on the left of the picture. On the other hand is a portion of the interior
of the city wall. The accumulation of rubbish is so great on this inner side that the outer wall is fully
20 feet deeper: indeed, it is pretty-clear that the general level of the original Jewish city must be on an average
of at least 20 feet below the present surface. The space which intervenes between the foreground of this
picture and the mosque is the Tyropoean Valley, over which was a bridge connecting the Mounts Moriah and
Zion. Some large stones, representing the spring of an arch, which are found in the outer wall of the temple
area, are conjectured to mark the commencement of this bridge. They were first brought into notice by
Dr. Robinson, and constitute one of the very few remnants of early Jewish masonry now existing in
Jerusalem.
The entire temple area, upon which now stand the mosques of Omar and Aksa, besides other buildings, is
called by the Moslems, El Haram-esh-Sherif, or the “ Holy Sanctuary.” The great mosque they call Kubbet-
es-Lukkrah, or “ Dome of the Rock.” It is a handsome octagonal building, standing on a platform near the
centre of the area, from which it is elevated by several steps. It was in a.d. 636 that the Caliph Omar, the
reputed founder of this mosque, took possession of the Holy City; but it is also related that it was rebuilt by
the Caliph Abd-el-Melek, in the year 686. In 1099, when the Crusaders, under Godfrey of Bouillon, took
Jerusalem, a vast number of the Mohammedan inhabitants sought refuge within the sacred enclosure; the
“ Christians,” however, broke in upon them, and committed the most terrible atrocities—neither age nor sex
were spared. According to Christian writers more than 10,000 (the Arab authors say 70,000) were slain
around this mosque, and “the whole area was covered ankle deep with blood.” Then the “Christians” made
haste to consecrate this place to its original worship; but, in 1187, the Moslems again, under Saladin, recovered
the city, and purified the sacred precincts with rose-water from Damascus, and from that day they have not
ceased to cherish and venerate it as the most sacred spot of earth, after the Kabeh of Mecca. And now a
“Christian dog” cannot‘approach it by the ramparts on the walls, nor look into it, without a rude growl
from a jealous Cerberus.
I have thus given my readers a dash of history, although not in the form which I intended: I reserve
the commencement of the story for another occasion.