Jerusalem Explored, Volume 1—Text: Being a Description of the Ancient and Modern City, with Numerous Illustrations Consisting of Views, Ground Plans and SectionsPierotti, Ermete
History
Jerusalem Explored, Volume 1—Text: Being a Description of the Ancient and Modern City, with Numerous Illustrations Consisting of Views, Ground Plans and Sections
Pierotti, Ermete
Jerusalem -- Antiquities; Jerusalem -- Description and travel
Returning to the Temple Street and going westward along the dyke, which,
with the Rev. G. Williams[322], I consider to be the ancient bridge
between Sion and Moriah, we see, after a few yards, on the right hand a
small façade of Saracenic architecture, adorned with arabesques of
excellent design; whose accurate execution deserves notice. It is a
fragment of an ancient school, established by Saladin, the revenues of
which are now exhausted, so that nothing else remains besides this
building. A little further on we leave this street (called by the
Crusaders the Bridge of S. Giles), by taking the first turning to the
north, and find, after passing the corner, a stone embedded in the lower
part of the wall of the first Arab house on the right hand, bearing an
inscription, which however is of no importance. This street runs along
the top of a vault which I have examined. It was constructed to form an
easy communication with the Tyropoeon, and proves that in former times
there was high ground on this spot. Going on northward we arrive at a
Saracenic fountain, now without water; near it on the south is a passage
leading into the central sewer, which here deviates a little to the east
to regain the middle of the valley, and consequently passes under the
bridge near the above-named school of Saladin. On the north of the
fountain is an ancient Mohammedan bath rapidly falling to ruin, and near
it the great gate of the Bazaar of the _Haram_, at the end of which is
the _Bâb el-Katannin_ (Gate of the Cotton Merchants). The entrance to
the Bazaar is a frontispiece of rude rustic work, which I attribute to
the age of the Crusades. The interior is Saracenic, as is shewn by the
architraves of the cells on each side, which were built for merchants'
shops, but now are receptacles for filth. After passing the middle of
the Bazaar, there is a bath on the south side called the _Hammam
es-Shefa_, supplied by a spring rising at a great depth: its waters have
an unpleasant taste; but we will speak more particularly of it
presently. On the north, nearly opposite to the entrance of the bath, a
little street leads to the _Bâb el-Kadid_ (Iron Gate) and the Convent of
Blind Dervishes, (a philanthropic establishment of Solyman,) where
singers in the mosque, suffering from this calamity, are still received.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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