Cardo (Jerusalem)
The Cardo (Greek: "Heart"), also Cardo Maximus , from Jerusalem is the former main street from Roman - Byzantine times that is now partially exposed in its southern part . The Cardo led from the northern city gate , today's Damascus Gate , to the southern, the current dung gate . The term Cardo in general denotes the main axis that is typical of the cityscape of a Roman or Byzantine city and usually runs in a north-south direction. Often, as here, a street running in east-west direction was laid out perpendicular to this main axis, the Decumanus , which led from the western city gate, today's Jaffa Gate , to the Temple Mount to the east. The intersection of these main axes was the center of the city.
excavation
The Cardo was discovered during excavation work for the foundation of a residential building in the course of the reconstruction of the Jewish quarter of the old city of Jerusalem , which had been systematically destroyed and made uninhabitable during the time of the Jordanian occupation of East Jerusalem from 1948 to 1967. The excavation of the Cardo by Professor Nahman Avigad for the Hebrew University began in 1975 and lasted 2 years. An approx. 200 m long section of the Cardo was exposed 4 m below today's street level. The northern part of the road was filled with earth several meters, while the southern end lay on leveled bedrock, which formed a 6 m high wall on its west side. The Cardo was a colonnaded street and was divided by two rows of stone columns into a wide street and two 5 m wide, covered passages on both sides. A construction made of wooden beams supported the roof, which was probably made of ceramic panels. On the east side, an arcade of large arches supported by ashlar pillars bordered the street. Shops lined the colonnades in their southwestern section; more shops were behind the arched arcade. Fragments of monolithic columns made of hard limestone inserted into later structures have been found. The column bases had an Attic profile, while the capitals were made in the Corinthian style. The 5 m high columns were reconstructed in their original position in the Cardo. The well-made paving stones, laid out in long parallel rows, became smooth and brittle over time. Some parts of the Cardo are under the modern houses of the Jewish Quarter.
history
Emperor Hadrian had the destroyed city of Jerusalem rebuilt in Roman style after the suppression of the Bar Kochba uprising in 136 AD and renamed it Aelia Capitolina . The system of the Cardo dates back to the 4th century AD and its earliest, northern section, which is not uncovered today, probably goes back to Emperor Constantine the Great . The southern section, which is now in the Jewish quarter, has been partially excavated and dates from Byzantine times. Most of the archaeological relics found here date from the 6th century AD. The Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (527-565 AD) was probably the client for the construction of this part of the Cardo. In his time the city had become an important Christian center with a rapidly growing population. The southern section, as a continuation of the older Roman, northern section, connected the two most important churches of that time, the Nea Church and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher . With a width of 22.5 m, it took account of the increasing volume of traffic at the time and was suitable for representative purposes, such as For example religious processions. After the conquest by the Arabs in the 7th century AD, the appearance and duties of the Cardo gradually changed. New workshops and shops were built on both sides of the street. During the time of the crusaders , three covered markets were created on the area of the Cardo. Some of the vaults have crusader markings, such as E.g. "SA" for "Monastery of St. Anna" or "T" for the " Knights Templar ". Over the years the Cardo became the grand bazaar it is today. The current streets, the Souq Chan ez time , the triple souq (Suq el-Lahhamin, Suq el-Attarin and Suq el-Khawayat) and Rehov Habad in the Jewish quarter still follow the original course of the Cardo from Damascus Gate to Zion Gate, but are much narrower than in the past and meander around houses that were later built quite randomly. The Decumanus can also be seen in David Street and the Tariq Bab es-Silsileh. Today's relatively strict division of the old town into the four quarters, the Jewish, the Christian, the Muslim and the Armenian, goes back in large parts to the Roman layout of the city with its structure by Cardo and Decumanus. The cardo can be clearly seen on the famous mosaic map from the 6th century, which was discovered in 1884 as part of the floor of a Byzantine church in Madaba , now Jordan , and which represents one of the most important testimonies of Byzantine Jerusalem. The map is the earliest cartographic representation of Jerusalem and guided the archaeologists during their excavations in the Jewish quarter after 1967. The cardo was discovered at the point that the Madaba map suggested.
Todays situation
The excavated part of the Jerusalem Cardo is in the center of the Jewish quarter, between Rehov Habad and Rehov Ha Yehudim. There is an archaeological garden and a small museum here. Today you can walk on the reconstructed section of the Cardo just like people did 1500 years ago. The covered bazaar built by the Crusaders in the 12th century, part of the Cardo, has cleared away the rubble of the centuries and modern shops, especially jewelry stores and art boutiques, offer their wares to buyers.
literature
- Michael Studemund-Halévy : ADAC travel guide Israel . ADAC Verlag GmbH, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-87003-695-8
- Article about the Cardo on www.biblewalks.com
- Article on the Cardo and Nea Church on the Israel ministry of foreign affairs website. The state of Israel, 2004
Web links
- A virtual tour of the Cardo
- A virtual tour through the covered part of the Cardo
- Article on the Cardo and Nea Church on the Israel ministry of foreign affairs website
Coordinates: 31 ° 46 ′ 29.8 " N , 35 ° 13 ′ 51.3" E