The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 10, 1904, Page 11

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. arve that stan as b alike by Jew, ¢ ries are being s Fair, but none in any of the essen- Here nds are and reproductions such as have been se the gro other g will be lacking in * as this repr v life in the c f the great King as it rez and Jew and Christ rate quarters or ming- the curious and quaint Louis, ives of angem U. 8. A, will Jerusalem. the nts are being thousand in- alem will be brou~ht » take up their residence n months of the expo- € nside this ll-acre walled city. Among t vill be Mohamme- ans, each wor- his own fashion and liv- life here in the reproduced ives and worships at @ ammedan will find his the Jew his synagogue, his church or chapel. 1 will walk about familiar dwell in houses identical in pattern with those in which they dwell at home, and engage in the same trades or other occupations that engage thelr time and talents in the Holy City. In short, seven months of next year streets : ;o A ’/ l | 7 OV this elevew with houses over Holy building to the tention the outer wall of tract is being in- closed in a wall of the dimensions of the actual wali of J Wooc and staff, e, are used in s0 clev and colored that it the real lem. The em persona te care the , towers and in- edifices St construction, itect visited Jeru con- 1 g0 may from Jaffa v railroad. Thousands of p er, annually ap- y the ancien camels or on foot. ison we may e Arts stand for Jaffa, and the pilgrim of 1904 may start superb edifice, filled with d modern works of n two minutes the Jaffa gate in the 1l of Jerusalem, which is the main entrance and is lo- cated down the western slope of Art Hill. Entering at the Jaffa gate the pil- grim finds himself inside the walled city of Jerusalem. Before him stretches the Street of David, the widest thor- oughfare in the city. On the left side is the moat guarding the citadel, and on the right a line of quaint houses, while farther along on that side ap- pear two modern hotels, which are re- produced just as they stand in the Holy City. These hostelries, the Grand New Hotel and the Central Hotel, are al- ready built, and will accommodate dur- ing the exposition the numerous per- sons connected with the management of the “New Jerusalem.” The Street of David runs on to the west gate, crossing the Via Dolorosa, along which thoroughfare, according to tradition, Jesus bore his cross on the way to the crucifixion on Calvary. Here will be shown the Ecce Homo arch, upon which Pontius Pilate stood’ when he cried to the populace, “Behold the man!” One of the points of interest on the right-hand side of the Street of David is the wl‘eu market, with dirt floor, in which Jew and Gentile strive for commercial mastery. It is vastly less magnificent than the Stock Exchange in New York, but as a place of busi- ness activity in this sacred city it has its unfailing interest. Passing through Christian street to the south, the World’s Fair pilgrim, or crusader may enter an open space in art, CHURCH O©OF TTHE =E PULCHRE vhich stands the Church of the Holy pulcher, with the hol epulcher it- roduced proper position at e east end. This Church of the Holy 8 Icher has been for centuries the subject of controversy among schol- ars and eccle is built upon the site of the crucifixion, The original Church of the Holy Sepul- cher was erected upon the present site by the iperor Constantine. The church was destroyed and rebuilt re- peatedly. in the centuries of fierce struggle for possession of the Holy City between Christian and Moslem. When the Crusaders took Jerusalem they enlarged the extent of the church considerably. The present building was erected early in the nineteenth century, but certain features of the medieval architecture remain, and these are be- ing reproduced In connection with the xl; ca of this venerable church at St. ouis. __The large court in front of the church, its pavement worn by the feet of in- numerable pilgrims, is to De reproduced accurately. Beneath the central dome of the church, which was rebuilt by the Greeks after having been destroyed by fire, is the sepulcher within a white marble edifice. This is divided into two small edifices, In the first of which is found the stone where the angels were seated when they replied to the holy women, “He is not here, but {s risen.” The second sanctuary incloses the sep- ulcher. Lights from lamps of gold and silver are always burning in this chapel and the air is redolent with burning perfumes. At Oberammergau there is an annual production of the Passion play, which has attracted world-wide attention. There the living. Christ is impersonated by an actor. Here at St. Louis will be shown in reproduced outward as- pect what many persons believe to be the sepulcher of the Savior. For long ages devout men and women have made pllgrimages to that spot from many parts of the world. But there is now building within this world's fair tract a structure which is & more prominent architectural feature in Jerusalem than the Church of the ‘Holy Sepulcher. The Mosque of Omar is being reproduced in staff, resting upon its mighty platform, with its won- derful dome towering high above the city. The site of the Holy Sepulcher is disputed, but no one questions that the ground upon which stands the Mosque of Omar is the identical site of in Scolomon’s temple and the temple of. Herod the Great, from which Christ scourged the money changers. This considerable tract cf land in Jerusalém, known to Christendom as the temple area and called the Haram es-Sherif by the Mohammedans, has been holy ground for nearly four thou- sand years. Temple after temple has been bullded upon it, to rall before suc- cessive invaders—Assyrian, Roman, Mohammedan. Within this area have worshiped the followers of the God of Abraham, the believers in Jesus of Nazareth and the zealous and fanatic adherents of Mohammed. Even a pagan temple, built by Hadrian, has occupled the site of Solomon’'s magnificent tem- ple. At times, for generations, the area has been but a tumble of ruins, yet it has not ceased for a moment to be venerated as a holy place by the fol- lowers of some great religious prophet. Around the walls razed and rebuilt from time to time the great religions of the world have surged and struggled for possession of the aréa. These walls have been drenched with blood and the maimed bodies of defender and ag- gressor have strewn the area. Even the Saracenic mosque now standing has changed masters repeatedly, being taken by the Crusaders under Godfrey of Bouillon in the year 1099. Tken the cross took the place of the crescent, until the expulsion of the Christians by Saladin, when once more the Moslem symbol was planted. Now the Mohammedans hold the area and worship within the mosque bullt by the great Omar, or at the prayer places here and there within the sacred inclosure. It was not until' recent years that Jew or Christian was per- mitted to enter this ure except on peril of death, so were its Moslem keepers lest the sacred space be profaned by those who, from thelr standpoint, are unbelievers. Strenuous efforts were made for many years to obtain photographs or drawings of the interior of the mosque. Only by strat- TEMPLE AREA SHOWING ELIuAR’S “TOMB \\\l‘ CENTER. egy and bribery, and even then at great risk, could any person other than a Mohammedan enter. It is this sacred Inclosure, with its grand mosque and other Interesting structures, that is being reproduced at St. Louls. During the exposition the temple area will be given over to the Mohammedans, the general visitor of course being admitted. Here the fol- lowers of Mohammed from Jerusalem ~will carry on their forms of worship. Among the wonderful things to be shown in this transplanted temple area are the tomb of David, the great King of Judea, and the throne of King Solo- mon, his son and the buillder of the temple. The mosque is octagonal in form, each side measuring 67 feet. Various colored marbles form the lower portion of the wall, arranged in intricate and beantiful patterns. Fifty-six pointed windows of magnificent stained glass pierce the upper portion. The great dome is covered with lead, surmounted by a tall gilt crescent. Underneath the dome is a remarkable limestone rock of frregular shape, which is beiieved to be the natural surface of the rock of Mount Moriah, upon which the im- mense platform supporting the mosque and the temple area is built. An iron railing surrounds this sacred stone, to protect it from the touch of pilgrims. At one corner of the rock is an exca- vated chamber, which, according to Mo- hammedan tradition, was successively the praying place of Abraham, David, Solomon and Jesus. £ In the “New Jerusalem” at St. Louis the Golden Gate will be restored. This famous gateway, the exact location of which has been lost for ages, was used in Solomon’s time and for centuries thereafter as an entrance to the temple area from outside the city. The Golden Gate wiil form the mid-northern en- trance to Jerusalem. St. Stephen’s Gate is at the north- west corner of the wall. It was near this entrance to the Holy City where the stoning of Stephen took place. The gate leads into the Via Dolorosa, mentioned before. It leads also to the inner gate of St. Stephen’s, through which, at the exposition, the visitor will pass into a hall in which a dio- rama of the Mount of Olives will show memorable scenes in the life of Christ, the Garden of Gethsemane and other localities of sacred interest being shown. In the several acres of land lying between the Church of the Holy Sepuicher and the temple area there is rapidly building a great array of smaller houses, exact copies of the buildings that occupy the corespond- ing streets in Jerusalem. When com- pleted about three hundred of these houses will appear, more than a dozen streets being completely repro- duced. Among these thoroughfares are the Moorish street, Chemists’ street, Coppersmiths’ street, Silver- smiths’ * street, Jewish street and others. The name of each thorough- fare affords an idea as to its charac- ter. In Jerusalem the workers in one occupation pre-empt a whole street— that is to say, all the coppersmiths have their shops on one street, all the chemists on another, and so on. In these streets, which are very narrow, the World’s Fair visitor will find native artisans and tradesmen of Jerusalem plying their vocations. The silversmith will live above his shop, just as he does at home. It is not at all unlikely that some of the natives who come to St. Louis will be privi- leged to occupy the very house that corresponds to their own, and in that case they will feel anite at home, for the “New Jerusalem” with World's Falr crowds in attendance will be very much like the old Jerusalem at Eastertide, when thousands of pil- grims throng its narrow streets. These streets themselves are calcu- lated to astonish the Occidental pil- grim. Hardly any of them exceed ten feet In width, and some are much nar- rower. In the center is a ditch or trench for the passage of beasts of burden. As the trenches are wide enough for only one beast at a time it is quite proba that here, as in the real city tn Pal tine, there will be various flerce rival- ries for the right of way between the owners or renters of camels and don- k camels from Jerusalem will be brought to the new city. A considerable number of donkeys— real Jerusalem will belong to the necessary fur- ngs of the These animals will provide a s the visitors and slonaires. The pilgr tiring of walking streets, may hire a y or a humpy camel and ride triumphantly between the rows of legs almost touching the wa e at some particularly n: along the the Street of David. Here the Inhabit- ants of the * w Jerusalem™ will buy and sell goods necessary for cullnary uses. The picturesqueness of the mar- ket place need not be pointed out. Mohammedan quarter of the rabian cafe will be located, gry pligrims may dine in where the more modern in pattera than most of the structures in the city. These are the Austrian postoffice, the United States consulate and Cook’s tourist office. On the other side of the square the outer gate of the citadel ad- mits to a bridge spanning the moal mbing the inner terrace one ent citadel through a wide passage be. tween the >wer of David and to Tower of Hippicus. ‘Within this citadel Herod erected his palace, building noble towers at three of the corners to serve for defense and ornementation. Josephus, the great historian of antiquity, says that these towers excited the admiration of Titus, the conqueror, after the destruction of the rest of the city, and were left standing, partly as memcrials of his conquest and partly as shelter and pro- tection to the camp or garrison which he left behind upon his departure. Herod named these towers after his wife, whom he had put to death be- cause of his jealousy; his brother, Phasaelus, and his friend, Hippicus. The Tower of Hippicus still stands. The towers named for Phasaelus and for Mariamne, the dead Queen, have perished, though newaer structures have arisen in their stead. One of these, called the Tower of David, is being re- produced opposite the Tower of Hippi- cus, and near the Jaffa gate also arises, in stone-like staff, the Tower of Pha- saelus. At the remaining corner of the cita- del is the Jewish Synagogue, in which the Hebrew natives from the Holy City will worship during their sojourn at the World’'s Fair, Not far away, across a garden, is one of the most cu- riously interesting features of the an- tire reproduction. This is the Jews' wailing wall. Here the Jews are wont to gather, against a wall which sepa- rates them from the temple area, and pray for the restoration of the sacred inclosure. Until comparatively recent years the Mohammedans refused to permit the Jews to approach even this near to the sacred inclosure, but after much persuason it was permitted the descendants of the builder of the tem- ple to approach this wall and wail out their sorrow because of the loss of the sacred soil of Zion, and pray for its restoration to the Jews.