Jerusalem in Old Maps and Views

Jerusalem in Old Maps and Views

  • 9/14/1998
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     JERUSALEM IN OLD MAPS AND VIEWS
     INTRODUCTION  |  6TH-13TH  CENTURY  |  15TH-16TH  CENTURY  |  17TH-18TH  CENTURY  |  19TH  CENTURY
     
     

    		 
       DIAGRAM OF THE  LAND  OF  ISRAEL  AND  JERUSALEM  BY  JACOB  AUSPITZ  (1817) 
     
    Already in the early Middle Ages if not before, Rabbinical teachers were called upon to interpret laws related to the Land of Israel, often in letters
    to Jewish communities in the diaspora. Since they had no access to geographical maps but were aware that graphics are the best means of clarifying territorial relations, they devised diagrams which correctly represented spatial relations described verbally in the Holy Scriptures, disregarding true geometrical location. This cartogram, though of later date, belongs to this type.

     
       PICTORIAL STRIP MAP  OF  THE  LAND  OF  ISRAEL,  BY  RABBI  CHAIM  SALOMON  PINTA  OF  ZEFAT  (1875)
    		 
     
    This illustration, in Hebrew and German, represents an original group of maps. Five longitudinal strips show five regions, from Lebanon in the North to Gaza, Hebron and
    "upturned Sodom" in the South, seen in perspective from West to East. The printing base is unusual, too; the map was produced on cotton cloth. The Holy City of Jerusalem occupies the map center. But although the author was a native of Zefat who knew the country well, the pictoral views of Jerusalem and of the city of his birth are imaginary.

     
    		  
       "MIZRACH" BY MOSES  KLIER  OF  ZEFAT  (1905) 
     
    "Mizrach" (East) is a traditional Jewish decoration indicating the direction of daily prayer. In this example, printed by A.L. Mohnson of Jerusalem, use was made of three elements: a pictorial view of Jerusalem and in particular of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City; Hebrew scriptural texts; and maps. Below the map appears an original copyright passage: "I am confident that the Rest of Israel [i.e. 'my brethren'] will not, heaven forbid, tresspass upon my privileges till the end of the appropriate period."

    		 
     
     
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