Jericho cable car
| Jericho Cable Car - تلفريك أريحا | |
|---|---|
 Cable car over walls from the Bronze Age
| |
| Location: |
Jericho , Palestine
|
| Design type: | Monocable gondola lift with group gondolas |
| Construction year: | 1999 |
| Mountain: | Mount of Temptation |
| Valley station: | Jericho −230 m |
| Height difference: | 180 m |
| Mountain station: | Qarantal Monastery −50 m |
| Route length: | 1330 m |
| Driving time: | 5 min |
| Number of gondolas: | 12 (4 groups with 3 cabins each) pcs. |
| Number of supports: | 7 pcs. |
| Capacity: | 8 people / gondola, 625 people / hour |
| Manufacturer: | Girak-Garaventa |
| Operator: | Sultan Telepherique and Tourist Center |
| Website: | www.jericho-cablecar.com |
The Jericho Cable Car ( Arabic تلفريك أريحا, DMG Tilifrīk Arīḥā , English Jericho Cable car ) is a cable car that has been leading from Jericho to the Mount of Temptation to the Qarantal Monastery there since 1999 . The track is completely below sea level .
history
After the standard tourist program for group tours in Jericho was limited to a short visit to the excavations at Tell es-Sultan , the Palestinian Authority decided in 1997, on the occasion of the millennium, to build a cable car to the west of the city of Temptation with the Greek Orthodox Qarantal monastery . This was financed by the Palestinian businessman Marwan Sinokrot, who founded the Sultan Telepherique and Tourist Center for this purpose . 1998-1999 a gondola of the Austrian company was Girak-Garaventa for 21 million ATS built. It should also become a tourist counterpoint to Massada , where the second cable car was also built at the same time. Shortly after the opening, however, the Second Intifada broke out, which is why operations were suspended for a long time. Then the train was used more by Palestinian visitors. In recent years tourism has recovered and more and more foreign visitors are using the train. The last monk of the monastery, Father Gerasimus, who was not included in the planning, is not satisfied with the construction of the railway.
route
The group cable car with twelve 8-person gondolas in four groups leads over 1330 m from the valley station to the height of the Qarantal monastery at −50 m. It passes the Elijah Spring (or Sultan's Spring) and leads across the archaeological site of Tell es-Sultan, which is -230 m above sea level. The Jericho Cable Car is the longest cable car below sea level. This is the case, even though the Masadabahn manages a greater difference in altitude because the route does not begin at the foot of the mountain, but first leads with several high supports over the excavation hill and the subsequent valley.
Since the non-detachable lift has to be stopped to get on and off, two groups of gondolas stop high above the valley.
Infrastructure
Next to the valley station there is a tourist center with a restaurant and an event hall. There is a coffee house with a terrace at the mountain station. A gondola is set up for use with a wheelchair.
incident
On March 3, 2015, a gondola caught fire while filming a television series. A well-known actor was invited to take a ride on the cable car for the scene, which was intended as a joke and filmed with a hidden camera. During the journey, the train was stopped and the uninitiated actor was led to believe that there was a power failure by mobile phone. At the same time, the film crew set off fireworks attached to the booth to scare the actor and film his reaction. As a result, however, the gondola accidentally caught fire. The occupants could only save themselves by a daring climbing maneuver on a neighboring cable car support.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jericho cable car important for tourism in West Bank ( Memento of the original from January 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Al-Arabija News on October 3, 2012
- ^ Large orders for Girak cable cars ( Memento from February 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), Wirtschaftsblatt on December 2, 1997
- ↑ Jericho - Perspectives and dead ends of a sealed-off city ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Jerusalem diary of the ELK Baden on April 4, 2004
- ↑ The Mount of Temptation from Jericho ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , ZDF documentation 2011
- ^ The Jericho Cable Car , This week in Palestine, August 2010
- ↑ Horror in Jericho: Cable car caught on fire ( Memento of the original from August 23, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Jerusalem online on March 4, 2015
- ↑ Palestinian Comedian Almost Dies In “Candid Camera” Prank , Israellycool on March 5, 2015
Coordinates: 31 ° 52 ′ 9.7 " N , 35 ° 26 ′ 40.5" E