JERUSALEM AREA BY AREA - Jerusalem and the Holy Land - page 90

Alexander
Hospice 2
Souk el-Dabbagha. Map 3 C3.
Tel [phone]. l Excavations
# 9am-1pm & 3-5pm Mon-Sat;
ring the bell. & 7 8

Also preserved here are rem-
nants of a colonnaded street
and, in the church, part of a
triumphal arch from Hadrian's
forum, begun in AD 135. The
excavations are open to the
public, but only parts of the
church can be visited.

the site from the 5th century.
Many details from the medieval
church have been incorporated
into the new building, and
the entrance way, decorated
with the signs of the zodiac
and symbols of the months, is
largely original. The attractive
cloister, which is inside the
adjacent Lutheran hospice,
has two tiers of galleries and
dates from the 13th-14th
centuries. Perhaps the most
interesting part of the church
though is the bell tower. After
climbing the 177 steps, visitors
are rewarded with some great
views over the Old City.

Home to St Alexander's
Church, the central place of
worship for Jerusalem's
Russian Orthodox community,
the Alexander Hospice also
houses some
important exca-
vations. When
the hospice
was founded in
1859, the site
was already
known to con-
tain ruins of the
original church
of the Holy
Sepulchre,
built in AD
335. In 1882,
however, excavations revealed
remains of a Herodian city
wall. This finally proved that
the site of the Holy Sepulchre
church was outside the ancient
city walls, which added cre-
dence to the claim that it was
on the true site of Christ's
crucifixion (see pp92-7) .

Lutheran Church
of the Redeemer 3
24 Muristan Rd. Map 3 C3 .
Tel [phone]. # 9am-1pm &

1:30-5pm (winter: 4pm) Mon-Sat.
& for bell tower only.

This Neo-Romanesque church
was built for the German
Kaiser Wilhelm II, and com-
pleted in 1898. Renewed
interest in the Holy Land by
Europe during the late 19th
century had ushered in a peri-
od of restoration and church
building, with many nations
wanting to establish a reli-
gious presence in Jerusalem.
The Lutheran Church of the
Redeemer was constructed
over the remains of the 11th-
century church of St Mary of
the Latins, built by wealthy
merchants from Amalfi in
Italy. An even earlier church
is thought to have existed on

Alexander
Hospice doorway

One of the many souvenir shops in
the Muristan

Muristan 4

Muristan Rd. Map 3 C3.

The name Muristan derives
from the Persian word for a
hospital or hospice for
travellers. For centuries the
area known as the Muristan,
south of the Holy Sepulchre,
was the site of just such a
hospice for pilgrims from
Latin-speaking countries. It
was built by Charlemagne in
the early 9th century, with
permission from the caliph
Haroun el-Rashid. Partly
destroyed in 1009 by the
Fatimid caliph El-Hakim, it
was restored later in the 11th
century by merchants from
Amalfi. They also built three
churches here: St Mary Minor
for women, St Mary of the
Latins for men, and St John
the Baptist for the poor.
St John the Baptist still
stands today, and was where
the Knights of the Hospital
of St John (or the Knights
Hospitallers) were founded.
They were to take over much
of the Muristan area as their

The dominating tower of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer

For hotels in this area see p256