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Views of FA-Khasne, Petra
Thanks to its position, El-Khasne Farun is one of
the best-preserved buildings in Petra, as well an one of the most
suggestive, especially in the early morning when the sun mantis the
pink of its sandstone. The edifice, rising as it does at the end of
the Siq, almost as though it had been tucked away there to protect
it from the weather, produces a dramatic effect on the visitor as it
is suddenly revealed in all its splendor.
Its two floors are entirely sculpted into the rock face. The lower
floor unites Nabatean motifs with elements taken from Classical
architecture, such as the tympanum above the columns and the
Corinthian capitals; at the center of the upper level is a circular
templet, decorated with statues, with, a conical roof.
FA Khasne Farun means "the Pharaoh's Treasury": the name can be
traced to an ancient legend that relates how marauders hid a
treasure there but then disputed its division in a battle with
fire-arms. And the bullet holes still visible on the facade would
seem to lend credence to the story.
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Petra. El Deir
On 8 March, Roberts made what proved to be a
tiring excursion to El Deir, a massive building dating to the
Nabatean era. Its name means "the Monastery" in the Arab language;
in Byzantine times it was used as a Christian place of worship, as
is evidenced by the crosses carved in the walls. Inside the temple,
which is entirely cut into the rock, the faithful gathered at the
conclusion of ritual processions. The site offers a splendid
panoramic view of the city and the royal tombs.
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Ashdod
After leaving Petra, Roberts and his caravan
reached Hebron on 16 March and then went on to Jaffa, where they
arrived on 25 March after having seen Gaza, Askelon and Ashdod. The
latter locality, ten miles out of Jaffa, appeared to Roberts to be
"a small
village with no remains". We read in his journal that the artist
"passed Ashdod by moonlight" - but this fact did not hinder him from
later painting a view of the city as it would have appeared in full
daylight.
The locality is rich in Biblical lore: famous for its temple
dedicated to the god Dagon, half man and half fish, Ashdod was at
the center of the Philistine dominion and in perennial conflict with
the Israelites. Conquered by Sargon in 710 BC, the, city later fell
under Greek rule and later still was annexed to the Roman Empire.
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View of Jaffa from the South
Roberts liked Jaffa, surrounded by its magnificent
orange groves and clinging to a hill overlooking the sea, as soon as
he saw it. The city; which has today been encompassed by the modern
Tel Aviv, capital of the Stale of Israel, is rich in Old and New
Testament lore. According to the Hebrew tradition, Jaffa was founded
by Noah's son Japhet; the town saw the prophet Jonah set sail for
Tarsus and the shipping out to Jerusalem of the Lebanese cedar wood
used in the construction of the Temple of Solomon. According to the
Acts of the Apostles, it was here that Saint Peter performed the
miracle of the resurrection of Tabith and was inspired by God to
receive the gentiles into the Church. During the age of the
Crusades, Jaffa, was fortified by Godfrey of Bouillon, who rebuilt
the walls with the aid of Pisa; but the city fell under Muslim
control in 1187 and remained thus through the time of Roberts'
visit.
The plate shows in great detail the different architectural "strata"
of the city, which amass Byzantine, medieval and Moorish elements.
The figures in the foreground are Polish Jews, awaiting a boat on
their return from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
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Jerusalem. The Damascus Gate
Before setting fool inside the city of Jerusalem,
Roberts made the circuit of the walls in the northwesterly
direction, starting from the Damascus Gate, built in 1542 by Sultan
Suleiman the Magnificent. Suleiman also raised the walls we see
today on the remains of the ancient Roman circle, which in turn
rested on the blocks of the rampart raised by Herod. The gate is
still today one of the most picturesque and suggestive sights in the
old city.
Of Jerusalem, in any case, Roberts was more impressed by the
exterior than by the interior, more by the walls than by the
streets. "The city within the walls," he wrote on 13 April, "may he
called a, desert, two-thirds of it being a mess of ruins and
cornfields; the remaining third, with its bazaars and ruined mosques
being of such a paltry and contemptible character that no artist
could render them interesting."
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The Pool of Bethesda
The Gospel according to Saint- John relates that
the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, commonly called "the pool of
probate", was the place where Christ performed the miracle of the
healing of the lame man. It was actually made up of two large
reservoirs surrounded by porticoes under which the blind, the lame
and the paralytic sought refuge during the day. In 1839, as Roberts'
drawing shows, the pool was reduced to a simple hollow containing a
small lake of water. Excavations begun in 1871 by the architect
Mauss brought to light the ruins of the original pools and the
Sanctuary of the Lame Man built in early Christian times.
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Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives
Roberts had reached Jerusalem the night of 28
March, travelling from Jaffa through a countryside that seemed to
him "carpeted with wildflowers" and "the most lovely I have ever
beheld." Forced to make camp outside the walls of the city, the
caravan was impressed by the perfect silence of the night, broken
only "by the baying of a watch dog." The city that appeared to the
artist from the Bethany road then counted about sixteen thousand
inhabitants, among whom six thousand Jews, five thousand Muslim
Arabs, three thousand Christian Arabs, and many pilgrims, mostly
Greek and Armenian but also some Hungarians. The pestilence that had
raged within the walls some months earlier did not dissuade Roberts
from entering the holy city.
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The Mosque of Omar
One of the most suggestive views of Jerusalem is
that represented by the panorama of the vast man-made esplanade of
al-Haram ash-Sharif ("noble sacred enclosure"), which contains sites
and, remains sacred to the three great monotheistic religions that
lax claim to Jerusalem as their holy city. On the hill there once
stood the Temple of Solomon, built by the wise Israelite king on the
rock ivhich according to tradition was the site of Abraham's
sacrifice of Isaac. The Temple was demolished and rebuilt more than
once before the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD and the
Diaspora. After this date, in its place there remained only a large
open ground, used as a waste dump and abhorred by the Christians,
who saw in the nun of the temple the confirmation of Jesus prophecy
reported m the (rospel according to Saint Mall hew: "See you not all
these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here
one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down" (Mall. 24:2).
Following the Arab conquest, the Muslims venerated the rock, which
had been sanctified by the presumed presence of Mohammed there, and
built on it the imposing Mosque of Omar, also known as the Dome of
the Rock (Qubbel as-Sakhra). The Crusaders, after their contjuest of
the holy city, transformed the mosque into a Christian temple: but
following their rout the half-moon again returned to shine over
Mount Moriali. The Mosipie of Omar, which appears clearly on the
right, arises at the center of a three-meter-high platform. Built in
691 by Byzantine artists, it is still, even in the wake of numerous
restorations, one of the most suggestive monuments of Muslim art.
The building is on an octagonal plan; at its center is set the dome
with its cylindrical drum.
Originally erected in the eighth century, the mosque has been
restructured many times and enlarged over the centuries; it seemed
to Roberts "externally at least a tawdry piece of finery fast
hastening to ruin." In truth, extensive restoration has been
necessary, especially following the earthquakes of 1927 and 1937; it
was performed by an Italian firm.
To the left of the mosque rises the Tower of Antonia; to its right
is the while profile of the al-Aqsa (in Arabic, "far-off") Mosque,
built on the site to which according to legend Mohammed was
miraculously carried off from the Mecca.
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