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- Collection: Chester Smolski Photographs
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Jerusalem: The Noble Sanctuary
At the heart of Jerusalem lies the 35 acre spread of land known as The Noble Sanctuary. Its inner workings consist of various buildings and structures of importance to the country of Israel. These include: The Dome of the Rock, the Al-Aqsa Mosque,…
Dead Sea: Sea Level Marker
This photograph shows a marker en route to the dead sea which indicates ‘sea level.’ The Dead Sea is approximately 400 meters below sea level.
Qumran: Caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were Discovered
In 1947 a group of Bedouin shepherds happened upon what would be known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Between 1947 and 1956 both the Bedouin and archaeologists performed a comprehensive search of eleven caves in Qumran, which resulted in the recovery of…
Qumran: Location of Dead Sea Scrolls, Cave 4
Discovered in August of 1952, Cave 4 is located just a couple hundred feet from the ruins at Khirbet Qumran. It was discovered by a Ta’amireh Bedouin tribesman pursuing a partridge. Cave 4 has been the location for the greatest number scroll…
Qumran: Water Channel ad Cave Entrance, Dead Sea Scrolls Area
This photograph was taken in Qumran, the area where in 1947 (or late 1946) the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered by three Bedouin shepherds. The caves are located about eight miles south of Jericho, in present day Israel. In this picture a sign can…
Jerusalem: Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Seen in the distance of this photo is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. After surviving much destruction and repair, the church stands presently in Jerusalem. It was built to commemorate the hill of crucifixion and Christ’s tomb. The church itself is…
Jerusalem: The Mount of Olives (Landscape)
The Mount of Olives is another highly religious geological point in Israel. Named for the multitude of olive trees that used to habituate the area, the Mount of Olives spans a length of around 2 miles and has its highest point at 818 meters. Several…
Jerusalem: The Noble Sanctuary
Pictured is one of the holiest sites in Jerusalem, The Noble Sanctuary. The walls holding in all of the sanctuary’s contents are clearly visible in this photo. It is believed by many that these grounds were once the location of the Temple of Solomon.…
Jerusalem: The Noble Sanctuary
At the heart of Jerusalem lies the 35 acre spread of land known as The Noble Sanctuary. Its inner workings consist of various buildings and structures of importance to the country of Israel. These include: The Dome of the Rock, the Al-Aqsa Mosque,…
Bethlehem: Statue of Saint Hieronymous (Jerome) at Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria
Statue of Saint Hieronymous (Saint Jerome) at the Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria in Bethlehem. The statue is modern, made in the mid twentieth century. The church itself was completed in 1882, built on the ruins of the crusader church…
Jerusalem: South Wall
A photograph of the south wall taken from outside of Old City Jerusalem. This wall was constructed during the Ottoman in the sixteenth century, but Jerusalem has a long history of being a fortified city with city walls dating back to ancient times.
Jerusalem: Church of the Holy Sepulchre Interior
The interior design of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a rhythmic sequence of light and less light designed to illicit emotional climaxes from visitors. The floor plan is based normal Roman house and palace design, the church progresses from…
Jerusalem: Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Detail)
Also known as the Church of the Resurrection, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a church built on a site venerated to be Golgotha. It was built in the third century under the rule of Constatntine at the site of Christ’s crucifixion and entombment.…
Jerusalem: Chruch of the Holy Sepulchre
Originally constructed during the rule of Emperor Constantine, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built as one of a number of memorial structures intended to, “enshrine places or objects associated with Gospel episodes or other hallowed events.”…
Jerusalem: Old City, South Wall (detail)
This photograph shows the south wall near the Jaffa Gate. The south wall borders the Jewish quarter in Old City Jerusalem. The present walls were built during the Ottoman empire in the sixteenth century, but the city has historically been fortified…
Jerusalem: Old City, South Wall
This photograph shows the south wall near the Jaffa Gate. The south wall borders the Jewish quarter in Old City Jerusalem. The present walls were built during the Ottoman empire in the sixteenth century, but the city has historicaly been fortified…
Jerusalem: Old City Market
Old City Jerusalem host’s a market made of long alley ways which cross through the Christian, Muslim and Jewish quarters. This photograph shows the colorful and slightly claustrophobic atmosphere of one of the market place.
Jerusalem: Street Scene at Jaffa Gate
The Jaffa Gate is a gate to the Old City district of Jerusalem. This 1980 photograph shows a street scene in front of the Jaffa Gate and some of the surrounding structures.
Jerusalem: Tomb of Bene Hezir and Tomb of Zechariah
This photograph show’s two of the monumental tombs in Kidron Valley. The tomb at the left is the Bene Hezir tomb, or Sons of Hezir. The tomb is carved into rock with a porch featuring a Doric style facade. It is the oldest tomb in the Kidron Valley…
Jerusalem: Kidron Valley, Absalom’s Pillar
Originally this tomb has been ascribed to Absalom, the son of King David of Israel. Recent studies however point to it’s construction being sometime in the first century AD. A recent deciphering of a fourht century inscription suggests that the…
Jerusalem: Shrine of the Book
This unique structure is the Shrine of the Book, a wing of the Israel Museum that is home to the Dead Sea Scrolls. The dome has been used in several science fiction due to it’s unique design which is based on imagery from the Scroll of the War of the…
Jerusalem: Shrine of the Book
The Shrine of the Book is a museum built to house the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered between 1947 and 1956. The unusual design for the dome was based on imagery from one of the scrolls, specifically the War of the Sons of Light Against the…
Jerusalem: Israel Museum, Sculpture, Shrine of the Book
This photograph shows an unidentified outdoor sculpture at the Israel Museum. In the background the unique dome of the the Shrine of the Book peaks between the foliage.
Jerusalem: Troops at Jaffa Gate
The Jaffa Gate, which was also known as the Bethlehem Gate, the Hebron Gate and the Pilgrim’s Gate, is one of eight gates in Jerusalem’s Old City walls. It is located near the Citadel and the Phasael Tower. This 1980 photograph show’s Israeli troops…
Jerusalem: Old City Market
Jerusalem’s Old City market is made up of alleyways that cross the Christian, Muslim and Jewish sections of Old City Jerusalem. This photograph was taken in 1980 and shows the close arrangement of stands in the alleyway markets.
Jerusalem: Old City Market
Old City Jerusalem host’s a market made of long alley ways which cross through the Christian, Muslim and Jewish borders. This photograph shows the colorful and claustrophobic atmosphere of one of the alley way markets.
Jerusalem: Truck Chasis from 1948 War on Roadside
This photograph taken along the highway entering Jerusalem shows rusting truck chasis’ as a reminder of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Smolski writes about the dangers faced by convoys entering the city during the war in his 1980 article Glorious…
Jerusalem: Part of St. Stephen’s Gate
Also know as Lions Gate, St. Stephen’s Gate is located on the eastern end of the Old City. It was thought that the first Christian martyr was stoned right outside of this gate, giving it it’s original name. The name Lions Gate only came about because…
Jerusalem: Dung Gate
The Dung Gate is one of the nine gates to the Old City in Jerusalem. It gains its name from the fact that it was the gate used to take trash out of the city to be disposed of in the Kidron Valley. It is seen here as heavily populated with pedestrians…
Jerusalem: Ruins & Mt. of Olives
Seen in the distance amongst the ruins is Mount of Olives, also known as Har HaZeitim, in Jerusalem. The hill is 2,900 feet tall consists of 3 summits with a tower on each. The hill is one of the city’s most religious places and acts as the main…
Jerusalem: New City inside Dung Gate
The Dung Gate is located on the south wall in relation to the Temple Mount. This picture was taken at the gate looking in towards the New City.
Jerusale: Eastern Wall toward Mt. of Olives
This photo was taken from the southeast end of the Eastern Wall looking towards Mount of Olives. The hill is located on the eastern side of Kidron creek and overlooks the old city of Jerusalem. This hill is considered holy ground due to the fact…
Jerusalem: Southeast End of the Eastern Wall
The Southeast end of the Eastern Wall in Jerusalem is also known as the east side of the Temple Mount wall. Clearly visible in the photo is the change in stone/pattern after about the 9th row. This is due to the fact that the Romans destroyed the…
Jerusalem: Hurva Synagogue Ruins
The Hurva Synagogue ruin, photographed in 1980. The synagogue was proposed in the 1840s and built between 1854 and 1864. When it was dedicated in 1864 the name given was, “Beth Ya’akov”, but it’s place on the ruins, hurva, of the old synagogue…
Jerusalem: Old City Alleyway
Old City Jerusalem has a complex network of narrow alleyways. This photograph from 1980 shows repair work in one of the alley ways which have remained relatively unchanged for millennia.
Jerusalem: New City
This photograph looks toward the New City district of Jerusalem. In contrast to the historical and religiously significant architecture of the old city, the New City’s skyline is ripe with modernist architecture and skyscrapers in the international…
Jerusalem: Phasael Tower (detail)
A detail of the Phasael Tower photographed in 1980. Archaeological expeditions have revealed that the tower, built by Herod between 37-4 B.C.E., was incorporated into the First Wall. Three towers were built by Herod, they were razed in A.D. 70. What…
Jerusalem: Phasael Tower, Old City
The Phasael Tower is the last extant tower built by Herod during his rule from 37 to 4 B.C.E.. Originally three towers were built on the north-west angle of the First Wall, each equipped with battlements and turrets. The surving section of the…
Jerusalem: Western Wall
Seen in this picture are large crowds of Jewish folk that have come to pray at the wall. The prayer area, in which you will see varying amounts of people at varying times, is dedicated to the lower square near the wall. It is believed that the Divine…
Jerusalem: Western Wall
Nestled in the Old City of Jerusalem lays the Western Wall. This wall, being exposed only 62 feet in length, acts as a support for the Temple Mount. Before 1867, it was believed that the wall consisted of 24 rows of stones, making it around 18 meters…
Jerusalem: Western Wall, al’Aqsa Mosque, and the Dome of the Rock
This 1980 photograph shows the Western Wall, al’Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. The Western Wall is also known as the Wailing Wall because of the intense emotions stirred by its history. All these sites are enclosed by the Noble Sanctuary, and…
Jerusalem: The Western Wall
The Western Wall is a remnant of an ancient Jewish Temple constructed in 19 BCE. Since the fourth century it has been a destination for Jewish pilgrims since the fourth century. The Western Wall has been described as the Wailing Wall since the 19th…
Jerusalem: The Noble Sanctuary and al’Aqsa Mosque
This photograph taken from the Noble Sanctuary shows the al’Aqsa Mosque at frame right. It also shows Israeli soldiers, tourists, and religious pilgrims at the site. The Noble Sanctuary contains the Dome of the Rock and al’Aqsa Mosque, two important…
Jerusalem: al’Aqsa Mosque
Al’Aqsa, which translates to ‘the furthest’, is one of the oldest mosques on earth. It is located next to the Dome of the Rock, and was first completed in 702. It was rebuilt completely in 780, and alterations have continued over the last…
Jerusalem: Tourists at the Dome of the Rock
The Dome of the Rock, the oldest surviving Muslim monument, is built around the foundation stone. The need to build around the holy rock influenced it’s unusual floor plan. The Dome of the Rock’s form is that of an octagon, with four salient…
Jerusalem: Dome of the Rock
The exterior of the Dome of the Rock, adorned with both marble and mosaic, was covered during the Ottoman Empire in, “magnificent Turkish tiles” (Ettinghausen, 16). In this photograph, which shows the Temple Mount, on which the building is located,…
Jerusalem: Dome of the Rock
The building is the earliest remaining Islamic monument. It is constructed on an artificial platform, has a 20 m dome, and richly decorated with mosaic. The shape of the building is octagonal. It was built by the Umayyad dynasty, in part to complete…
Jerusalem: Dome of the Rock
The Dome of the Rock, built over the Foundation Stone, is the oldest remaining Muslim monument. It has been meticulously maintained over the last 1400 years. The dome, spanning almost 20 m, had to be refitted with new ribs to support it after the…
Jerusalem: al’Aqsa Mosque, View from the Dome of the Rock
Al’Aqsa Mosque translates to, “the furthest mosque.” First built in 702, and rebuilt again in 780, this mosque in Jerusalem reused parts from a Justinian period church. Since it’s being rebuilt in 780, it has undergone many alterations. This…
Rehovot: Memorial to the Holocaust Plaza at the Weizmann Institute of Science
The Memorial to the Holocaust Plaza was designed by Israeli sculptor Dani Karavan and completed in 1972. It is a memorial plaza at the the Weizmann Institute of Science, the center piece of which is a bronze and stone sculpture representing a torah…