St. George's Cathedral (Jerusalem)

St. George's Cathedral

St. George's Cathedral in the 1930s

The Byzantine column in the courtyard

The St. George's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Jerusalem , which in 1899 was consecrated. It is located in the northern New City of Jerusalem on Nablus Road and Saladin Street. It has an adjoining guest house for tourists .

It is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem , one of four bishops of the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East .

history

A permanent station of the Anglican Church was built in Jerusalem as early as 1833. The first Protestant diocese of Jerusalem was founded at the suggestion of Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia in 1841, its first bishop was Michael Solomon Alexander . Four years later, the first Anglican church, Christ Church, was consecrated on Jaffa Gate.

The next bishop, Samuel Gobat , showed great commitment in 1846 when he founded evangelical congregations and schools, orphanages and hospitals in Jerusalem , Bethlehem , Jaffa , Nablus and Nazareth . He also ordained the first two Arab priests.

After the dissolution of the Anglo-Prussian connection in 1881, the foundation stone for St. George's Cathedral was laid and, after 7 years of construction, consecrated by Bishop Blyth in 1898. The diocese became Anglican in 1887 and now focused on St. George's Cathedral. It is named after the Anglican patron saint, St. George - who was a soldier in Palestine and, despite Diocletian's prohibition, a Christian who was executed in 303.

The area served as the headquarters of the Turkish army during the First World War. The Turkish general in Jerusalem, Cemal Pasha , lived in the bishop's residence. The surrender of the city on December 9, 1917 was signed in this residence, after which the cathedral was reopened after being closed for three years.

description

The area surrounded by a wall can be reached through a gatehouse simulating the Tudor style . In the courtyard is a large column from the Byzantine period, crowned by a Roman cannonball and a Byzantine cross.

The complex was built in the form of a college by the architect George Jeffery in the English Windsor Gothic style of the 14th and 15th centuries and, in addition to the church, also includes the living area for the bishop and dean, a school for boys and an adult education institute . There is also a pilgrims' and tourist hostel and a garden with biblical plants.

The guest house was built in 1923, the living quarters of the clergy and the choir school were included.

St. George's School , a secondary school for boys, is also located on the grounds of the Anglican diocese .

cathedral

Opposite the entrance is the cathedral, the tower of which was built in 1911 in memory of King Edward VII . Due to the permanent danger of earthquakes, this is a little away from the cathedral. The cathedral is a three-aisled building with a transept.

With the departure of the British in April 1948, the royal British coat of arms was installed in the left transept, which until then had been in the British governor's residence of the British mandate government. There is also a memorial plaque for the deceased members of the British Palestine Police.

The names of the Anglican bishops and the Arab pastors and their predecessors are attached to two boards, which refers to the two groups that meet in the church: on the one hand the Arab Anglicans and a group of English-speaking Anglicans who have emigrated.

Web links

Commons : St. George's Cathedral - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

History of the Cathedral. Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, accessed on April 27, 2020 (History of St. George's Cathedral in Jerusalem).

31.788003 35.228702Coordinates: 31 ° 47 ′ 16.8 ″ N , 35 ° 13 ′ 43.3 ″ E