Alexanderhof (Jerusalem)
The Alexanderhof is a building complex of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society in the Christian Quarter in the old city of Jerusalem .
Surname
The Alexanderhof is also, z. B. at Max Küchler , referred to as the Alexander Hospice. The building was initially called the Russian House (Русский дом). Then it was named Alexanderhof (Александровское подворье) after Alexander III. Inside the building is the Alexander Nevsky Church , which is named after St. Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky .
geography
The Alexanderhof ⊙ is located in the corner between Suq Chan ez-Zeit and Suq ed-Dabara ( English Suq ed-Dabbagha , Arabic سوق الدباغة, DMG sūq ad-dabbāġa 'Market of the Tanners ', Hebrew שוק הצבעים suq ha-tswa'im , German 'market of colors' ). It is located southeast of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher ⊙ in the area of the Temenos, built under Hadrian in the 2nd century, on the site of the Constantinian Resurrection Basilica.
history
In 1859 Russia bought the site. It was initially intended for the construction of a Russian consulate. Ermete Pierotti cleaned up the area and discovered ancient walls. He believed that it was the Solomonic wall restored by Herod . As a result, the Russian consulate was built outside the old city of Jerusalem.
Charles William Wilson excavated the top of the arch and the tenemos wall in 1864 and 1865. M. Conder (1872) and Charles Clermont-Ganneau (1874) examined the excavated ruins.
The Alexanderhof was built in 1881 after the visit of the Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrowitsch Romanov , from whom it got its name. It consists of a pilgrims' hospice, a small museum and the Alexander Nevsky Church.
Further investigations were carried out in 1883 by the Russian archimandrite Antonin Kapustin and Conrad Schick .
The old foundations and structures have been preserved and can be viewed in the Alexanderhof. There are many different views as to their dating and origins.
There is no clear archaeological evidence for the partially alleged dating to the time of Solomon (10th century BC), Nehemias (4th century BC) or Herod (1st century BC). Louis-Hugues Vincent interpreted the excavations as the remains of the Propylaea and the atrium of the Constantine Resurrection Basilica. Integrated into this are the remains of the Hadrianic Tenemos and a gate that connected the Roman forum , now Muristan , with the Cardo Maximus . Stone blocks from Herodian times were used in its construction.
Alexander Nevsky Church
The Alexander Nevsky Church was consecrated in 1896.
Dispute between the Red Russian and Belarusian Orthodox over the Alexanderhof
After the October Revolution of 1917, the Soviet communists carried out an anti-church terror in which many bishops and priests were murdered. In doing so, the Soviet rulers forced a declaration of loyalty from the Russian Orthodox Church to the Soviet state. This led to a split in the church and the establishment of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad . For example, an anti-communist branch split off from the Orthodox Palestine Society , to which the British Mandate Government transferred ownership rights in Palestine .
In 1948 the State of Israel was founded, which established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union . Now the property rights of the Russian Orthodox Church on the territory of Israel have been transferred to the Moscow Patriarchate . Of course, the property in the West Bank and in the old city of Jerusalem remained unaffected, as these were not part of Israel's territory at the time.
So the Alexanderhof remained in the possession of the split off branch of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, headed by Archimandrite Aleksey Grabbe.
The Russian Orthodox Church made another attempt in 1986 to usurp this property. The Synod of Bishops deposed Grabbe in proceedings for embezzlement and removed him from all of his offices. Grabbe struggled, however. He declared himself head of the Orthodox Palestine Society, which was independent of the Synod of Bishops, and took over the Alexanderhof as such. After Grabbe's death Nikolai Hoffmann-Vorontsow from Munich continued the Alexanderhof as property of the "Russian Orthodox Society Holy Land" foundation registered in Munich .
In 2006, the 110th anniversary of the consecration of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral took place. The service was held by the Berlin Metropolitan Mark . The Moscow Metropolitan Kyrill turned up surprisingly . Both priests then prayed together. This was seen by believers as a sign of hope that Belarusian and Red Russian Orthodoxy would bury their dispute in the face of the threat from Islam .
In 2015, the Russian state made another diplomatic attempt to gain possession of the Alexanderhof, which Israel did not respond to. In the course of further diplomatic negotiations, Israel showed up ready to give the Alexanderhof to Russia. For Israel, the fact that the old city of Jerusalem was recognized by Russia as the national territory of Israel played an essential role. The documents for the transfer of the Alexanderhof to Russia should be issued for December 30, 2019. However, on March 1, 2019, Nikolai Hoffmann-Vorontsow lodged a protest with the Israeli Ministry of Justice. A Jerusalem district court then imposed a temporary ban on the transfer of property.
description
The building complex includes the Alexander Nevsky Church, a museum, a reception room, offices and administrative rooms, a library, an archive, accommodation rooms for pilgrims and, in the basement, exhibition rooms for the archaeological excavations.
Excavations
A threshold was excavated which, according to Christian tradition, is venerated as the threshold through which Christ went on the Way of the Cross to Golgotha. Archaeologically, this threshold can be assigned to the Propylaea of the Constantinian basilica. To the left of the threshold there is an ante and next to it a small hole that could be called the eye of a needle. Through this hole, travelers could enter the city after the gates were closed at night. There is a hypothesis that the Bible passage:
"A camel is more likely to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
refers to this facility.
An antique gate system stands on the original paving. Louis-Hugues Vincent reconstructed a three-sided triumphal or forum gate from the time of Hadrian from this preserved remains. In addition, parts of the south and east walls of the Tenemos, pillars of the Roman Cardo Maximus and capitals have been preserved. The continuation of the walls shown here can be seen in the neighboring Zalatimos shop in Suq Chan ez-Zeit.
museum
Various small items that were found during excavations are kept in the museum. These include pendant lights, crosses, miniature glass vessels, candle holders, door locks with lion heads, Arab coins, Hebrew lamps, pendants and pottery shards of Coptic origin.
church
The church has an iconostasis in two rows . Its walls are adorned with icons and paintings by Nikolai Andrejewitsch Koschelew , who visited Jerusalem for this purpose in 1891. In the east wall behind the altar there is a stained glass window in Russian Art Nouveau style.
literature
- Max Küchler : Jerusalem: A Handbook and Study Guide to the Holy City (Places and Landscapes of the Bible, Vol. IV, 2) , Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007, ISBN 978-3-525-50170-2
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Max Küchler: Jerusalem: A manual and study travel guide to the Holy City , Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; 2007, ISBN 978-3-525-50170-2 , pp. 412-415
- ↑ Alexanderhof at OSM. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
- ↑ a b c d Russia next to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher at die-tagespost.de. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
- ↑ a b Church of St Alexander Nevsky at seetheholyland.net. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
- ^ "Alexander Newski Cathedral" in Jerusalem at theologische-links.de. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
- ↑ Commentary by Johannes Gerloff (Jerusalem) at israelnetz.com. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
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