Alexander Hospice

July 11, 2013  Wednesday

It's the second-to-last day of the dig, and we continued our work cleaning up the site, preparing for photographs and closure for the season.  I'll post links to the official photos in a later blog post.

After we finished our dig day, we went into several of the Armenian pottery stores in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City.  We decided to buy a couple of serving dishes as a souvenir of our many walks through the Armenian quarter.  Today we only window-shopped, but tomorrow we'll make our purchases.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the Alexander Hospice and Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox Church.  This building claims to be built over the remains of another Holy Sepulchre, although we didn't see that part (or didn't recognize it).  The area was acquired by Russia in 1859.  Archaeological excavations were conducted in 1883 by Archimandrite Antonin Kapoustin of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem.  This is Antonin Kapoustin.

In addition to the alternative Holy Sepulchre site, Kapoustin also identified remnants of a Herodian gate, called the "Justice Gate."  Their tradition is that Jesus passed through this gate on the way to His crucifixion.  An arch and two columns from the time of Hadrian were also found, as well as numerous ancient artifacts.

We were met at the door by several young women dressed like nurses from the 1800s.  Too bad we didn't take a photo!  They spoke almost no English, but we were able to understand that I could not go into the church because I was wearing jeans and not a skirt.  (I would also have had to cover my hair.)

The exhibits were far less sophisticated than what we'd seen in museums and other sites, but still interesting.

The excavations have been enclosed in the present building, including the Hadrian arch in the above photo.  Here it is, viewed from the other side.  The column has been reinforced.

Everything was in Russian.

This beautifully-paneled room, devoted to icons, was closed to the public.  Pete stuck his head in to take a photo.

There was a beautiful room devoted to Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra.  Again, we wish we had taken more photos.  It's like the Bolshevik Revolution and all that followed never happened.

The church portion of the structure was unusual.  Pete stepped into this space to take a picture.  The Herodian stones on the right are the remnants of the Judgement Gate.  These modern stairs provide seating for groups.  The upper spaces are filled with modern-looking paintings from the life of Christ.

We think this altarpiece is behind the painting at the top of the stairs in the above photo.  A worker who was doing restoration invited Pete to step inside and take a look.  (I wasn't included in the invitation, due to those pesky jeans I had on.)  The worker spoke only Russian, but Pete thinks he understood that the stained glass on the upper right was done by the same guy who did some of the stained glass at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.  This photo is from the internet, and isn't quite what Pete saw.  I think there must be an altar behind that doorway in the center. These paintings are done in an older style.

A second tier of paintings features apostles and saints.  There's a nearly life-sized crucifix in the arched area at the right.

It's been interesting to see the various traditional sites for the same events, and this place was no exception.  We weren't able to see the entire place because we arrived near closing time.  Also we were so dirty from the dig that Pete did not want to offend those young ladies by lingering in the sanctuary.

On our way back to the hotel we saw this little van on Salah-al-Din Street.  Note their web domain is at .ps (for Palestine) instead of .il (for Israel).  We're definitely in the Moslem part of town!  (We don't know what a "Kiwi Style Burger" is.)