Jerusalem, Hebrew Jeruschalajim, Yerushalayim, Arabic El-Kuds, Al-Quds, city in West Asia and capital of Israel, in the mountains of Judea , 700–850 m above sea level, (2019) 936 400 residents (about a third of them non-Jews), as a metropolitan area 1.2 million residents.
According to calculatorinc, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel (status internationally disputed; in May 2018 by the USA, Guatemala and Paraguay recognized), seat of Parliament and the Supreme Court as well as the Muslim Supreme Court (Sharia) and the Wakf (administration of Islamic religious property); Administrative seat of the Jerusalem district. The occupied eastern part of Jerusalem has belonged to Israeli territory since 1967; in addition, numerous surrounding communities were incorporated into Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority is laying claim to East Jerusalem. The area of the Islamic holy places (“Haram” or “Temple Mount”) is under Jordanian administration. As a spiritual center and seat of important religious institutions, Jerusalem is of great importance for the Jews, Muslims and Christians in Israel and the West Bank. It is the seat of the two Jewish chief rabbis (of the Ashkenazi and Sephardic rites), Melkites , the Maronites and the Chaldean Church (of the Nestorian branch unified with Rome), an Armenian Catholic and a Syrian Catholic patriarchal exarch and a Syrian Orthodox patriarchal vicar, as well as a Coptic Orthodox and an Ethiopian Orthodox archbishop, a bishop the Anglican “Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East”, a bishop of the “Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land” and the imam of the Al-Aqsa Mosque (together with the “Dome of the Rock” the third most important Islamic shrine), the at the same time fulfills the function of the spiritual head of the Muslims of Jerusalem and the West Bank. In addition, Jerusalem has a unique importance as a world-wide Holy city of Jews, Christians and Muslims and is one of the most important pilgrimage sites on earth. Numerous religious teaching and research institutes shape the cultural and school life of the city: École Biblique et École Archéologique Française (founded 1890), branch of the Pontifical Biblical Institute (founded 1927), Franciscan Biblical Institute (founded 1927), Swedish Theological Institute (founded 1951), Institute of the Jewish Religion (founded in 1963 as a branch of the American Hebrew Union College) and others The branches of the order with their monasteries and churches, the synagogues and mosques maintain a large number of schools, hospitals and welfare institutions.
Jerusalem is the seat of the Israeli Academy of Sciences (founded 1959) and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (founded 1918, opened 1925), has academies of art and design (founded 1920), music and dance (1947) and numerous libraries and archives, among others. Jewish National and University Library, Zionist Central Archives, Gulbenkian Library (Armenian library), as well as museums, including the Israel Museum (consisting of the Bronfman Archaeological Museum, the Bazabel Museum of Folk Art and Folklore, a Sculpture Garden and the »Shrine of the Book “For the Dead Sea Scrolls) and the Rockefeller Museum of Archeology; Zoological Garden; Planetarium. Jerusalem is the seat of the Israeli television company and the radio station “Kol Israel” (Voice of Israel).
The economy of Jerusalem is shaped by the character of the city as a religious and cultural center as well as an administrative center. Trade and handicrafts play a lesser role and can be found mainly in the Arab sector. The industrial operations (shoe and leather goods industry, diamond grinding, electrical industry, metal processing, pharmaceutical industry, manufacture of glassware and cigarettes, printing and publishing) are concentrated in three industrial areas on the outskirts (in the north, west and south). The most important economic factor in the city is tourism.
Cityscape
The old town, which was included in the “Red List” by UNESCO, has an oriental character. It is surrounded by a high wall, interrupted by eight gates, with numerous towers, the Sultan Suleiman II, the Magnificent , partly built on older wall remnants (completed in 1537). The old town has been divided into four quarters since the Middle Ages: the Muslim quarter in the east, the Christian quarter in the northwest, the Armenian quarter in the southwest and the Jewish quarter in the south. The latter, which was completely destroyed by the Jordanian armed forces in the 1948 war, was rebuilt from 1967 onwards. It is home to numerous Jewish religious institutions. Almost the entire eastern part of the old town is occupied by the Temple Mount, which is under Islamic administration; here are two of the most important Islamic holy places: Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque ; also grave structures, madrasas and trading houses from the 13th-15th centuries Century. Among the numerous Christian sites are the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the “Via Dolorosa” are the most important. There is only one holy place for the Jews: the 400 m long Wailing Wall, called the “Western Wall” by the Jews. Only about 3% of the population of Jerusalem live in the Old City today.
To the east of the old town rises the Mount of Olives (830 m above sea level). The deeply cut Kidron Valley lies between it and the Temple Mount. The western slope of the Mount of Olives has served as a Jewish burial place since ancient times.
In the north, west and south, the new town forms a wide arc around the old town: the modern Arab business and residential districts adjoin it in the north, while the Jewish residential districts mainly extend to the west, north-west and south-west. In the west is the spacious government district with parliament (Knesset, 1957–66 by Joseph Klarwein), ministries, part of the university and the complex of the Israel Museum (1959–65, by Alfred Mansfeld and Dora Gad ; around the shrine of the book expanded by F. Kiesler). Further to the west lies the Herzlberg, on whose summit (835 m above sea level) is the grave of T. Herzl located, surrounded by the graves of the “greats of the nation”; There is also a military cemetery and the national Yad Vashem memorial , the memorial for those murdered in the Holocaust (designed by Arieh Elhanani [* 1898, † 1985]), expanded from 1997 to 2004 by a new museum complex by M. Safdie (opening 2005).
There are numerous examples of “New Building” architecture in Neustadt. Austen B. Harrison built the Rockefeller Museum (1927); Benjamin Chaikin created the old Jewish National and University Library (1930) on Mount Scopus; ibid built E. Mendelsohn , the (old) Hadassah Hospital (1934-39) and in the new Bank Leumi (1936-39). Significant sacred buildings include the synagogue on the Givat Ram campus by Heinz Rau and David Reznik (1957), the synagogue of the Hadassah Medical Center near En Kerem with glass windows by M. Chagall (1959–61) and the Great Synagogue by Alexander Friedman (1982). Impressive examples of recent architecture are the Teddy Stadium (1992, by Pasqual Broid), the Supreme Court (1993, by Ram Karmi and others), the Shalom Hartman Institute (2001, by Lou Scholars), the Israel Elwin Rehabilitation Center (2002, by Safdie), the Lerner Sports Complex of the Hebrew University (2002, by Shulamit Nadler), the Yitzak Rabin Youth Hostel (2002, by Arthur Spector) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2003, by Kolker, Kolker, Epstein Architects together with A. J. Diamond and Donald Schmitt).
Around the core area of Jerusalem there are satellite cities in a semicircle (distance from the city center 2–5 km) with a partly avant-garde “honeycomb” and “kasba” architecture. – The barrier wall built by Israel to seal off the West Bank also goes through parts of East Jerusalem to protect the Jewish settlements built there.
