DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5295#0190
HOLY LAND, AND CYPRUS. 157
Within the limits of the aga's seraglio or palace are said
to be the place of confinement and judgment-hall of our
Saviour, the spot where he was scourged, that in which the
cross was kept before it was used for the crucifixion, and
where it was left by the empress Helena after she found it
on Mount Calvary. What attracted my observation most,
(as the above are either stables or outhouses, and leave every
thing to the imagination,) were three or four layers of im-
mense stones, apparently of the ancient town, forming part
of the walls of the palace.
On the road from the palace to the church of the Holy
Sepulchre, the dragoman pointed to three impressions in the
rocky part of the ground, which he said were the marks
of our Saviour's knees when he fell with the cross.
As the porters of the Holy Sepulchre, who are imams
appointed from Constantinople, were not to be found, I
visited the ruined church of St. Anna, said to be built on
the spot where the mother of the Virgin Mary lived, and
where the latter was born: close to it is the shell of three
Saracenic windows, part of a church built in memory of the
spot where Anne and Mary wept at the crucifixion of our
Saviour. From this I went to the castle built on Mount
Sion, near which is the mosque of David, whose tomb is
supposed to be there, the veneration for which is equal to
that for the mosque of Solomon; and no Christian is allowed
to visit either.
Within the limits of the aga's seraglio or palace are said
to be the place of confinement and judgment-hall of our
Saviour, the spot where he was scourged, that in which the
cross was kept before it was used for the crucifixion, and
where it was left by the empress Helena after she found it
on Mount Calvary. What attracted my observation most,
(as the above are either stables or outhouses, and leave every
thing to the imagination,) were three or four layers of im-
mense stones, apparently of the ancient town, forming part
of the walls of the palace.
On the road from the palace to the church of the Holy
Sepulchre, the dragoman pointed to three impressions in the
rocky part of the ground, which he said were the marks
of our Saviour's knees when he fell with the cross.
As the porters of the Holy Sepulchre, who are imams
appointed from Constantinople, were not to be found, I
visited the ruined church of St. Anna, said to be built on
the spot where the mother of the Virgin Mary lived, and
where the latter was born: close to it is the shell of three
Saracenic windows, part of a church built in memory of the
spot where Anne and Mary wept at the crucifixion of our
Saviour. From this I went to the castle built on Mount
Sion, near which is the mosque of David, whose tomb is
supposed to be there, the veneration for which is equal to
that for the mosque of Solomon; and no Christian is allowed
to visit either.