Jerusalem stone

Last updated
Jerusalem stone (Western Wall, Jerusalem). Jerusalem Western Wall stones.jpg
Jerusalem stone (Western Wall, Jerusalem).

Jerusalem stone (Hebrew: אבן ירושלמית; Arabic : حجر القدس) is a name applied to various types of pale limestone, dolomite and dolomitic limestone, common in and around Jerusalem that have been used in building since ancient times. [1] One of these limestones, meleke , has been used in many of the region's most celebrated structures, including the Western Wall.

Contents

Jerusalem stone continues to be used in construction and incorporated in Jewish ceremonial art such as menorahs and seder plates.

Geology

The stone in its natural state. Jerusalem stone in the rough.jpg
The stone in its natural state.
Lithographic limestone from the Gerofit Formation (Turonian) north of Makhtesh Ramon, southern Israel; a variety of Jerusalem Stone (meleke). Turonian Jerusalem Stone 031612.JPG
Lithographic limestone from the Gerofit Formation (Turonian) north of Makhtesh Ramon, southern Israel; a variety of Jerusalem Stone (meleke).
Jerusalem stone facade of Inbal Jerusalem Hotel in Jerusalem. RNB 0457.jpg
Jerusalem stone facade of Inbal Jerusalem Hotel in Jerusalem.

The highlands of Israel and Palestine are primarily underlain by sedimentary limestone, dolomite and dolomitic limestone. The stone quarried for building purposes, ranging in color from white to pink, yellow and tawny, is known collectively as Jerusalem stone. Soft Senonian limestone is found to the east of Jerusalem, and has long been used as an inexpensive building material. [2] Stone of the Cenomanian layers, known in Arabic as mizzi ahmar and mizzi yahudi, is far more durable than Senonian limestone, but is very hard and was expensive to quarry using pre-modern methods. [2] Turonian layers yield mizzi hilu or helu and meleke, the most prized building stones. [2] The thin layered mizzi hilu is easily quarried and worked. Meleke is soft and easy to chisel, yet hardens with exposure to the atmosphere and becomes highly durable. [2] It was used for the great public buildings of antiquity, [3] and for the construction of the Western Wall.

Varieties

The mountains in and around Jerusalem offer mainly limestone, dolomite and related types of rock. [4] The names in common use today have been adopted from the Arab masons of the 19th and 20th centuries. The varieties mostly used for building throughout history are:

The setting sun reflected on the cream-colored limestone facade of both ancient and modern structures gives them a golden hue, giving rise to the term "Jerusalem of Gold". [6]

History

According to Israeli geologist Ithamar Perath, residents of Jerusalem in antiquity built their homes from Jerusalem stone quarried in the city and used the pit that remained as a cistern to collect rainwater beneath the home. Ancient quarries around Jerusalem include the site of the bus station in East Jerusalem, Rehov Hamadregot in Nahlaot and the Garden Tomb. [1] The remains of ancient quarries can also be seen near Yemin Moshe, in the Sanhedria neighborhood, and elsewhere. [2]

Municipal laws in Jerusalem require that all buildings be faced with local Jerusalem stone. [7] The ordinance dates back to the British Mandate and the governorship of Sir Ronald Storrs [8] and was part of a master plan for the city drawn up in 1918 by Sir William McLean, then city engineer of Alexandria. [9] Ironically, at the time of the siege of Jerusalem, during the 1947–1949 Palestine war, it was noted that that requirement to use Jerusalem stone in new construction had limited the damage caused by the shelling during the siege. [10]

In 1923, Aharon Grebelsky established the country's first Jewish-owned "marble" quarry in Jerusalem (actually of mizzi stone, since there is no marble in Israel). Grebelsky's son Yechiel expanded the business, employing over 100 workers, including quarriers, stonemasons, fabricators and installers. The company inaugurated a new factory in Mitzpe Ramon in January 2000. [11]

In 2000, there were 650 stone-cutting enterprises run by Palestinians in the West Bank, producing a varied range of pink, sand, golden, and off-white bricks and tiles. [12]

Symbolic use

The various "Jerusalem stones" are employed abroad in Jewish buildings as a symbol of Jewish identity. [13] [14] It has been used this way in many Jewish community centers, including the one in San Jose, Costa Rica. [15] Jerusalem stone is frequently used in contemporary synagogue design, to create a simulation of the Western Wall or as a backdrop for the Holy Ark. [16]

A Pentecostal church in São Paulo, Brazil, ordered $8 million worth of Jerusalem stone to construct a replica of the Temple of Solomon, or Templo de Salomão that stands 180 feet tall. [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marble</span> Type of metamorphic rock

Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2)) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dolomite (mineral)</span> Carbonate mineral - CaMg(CO₃)₂

Dolomite is an anhydrous carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate, ideally CaMg(CO3)2. The term is also used for a sedimentary carbonate rock composed mostly of the mineral dolomite (see Dolomite (rock)). An alternative name sometimes used for the dolomitic rock type is dolostone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashlar</span> Finely dressed stone and associated masonry

Ashlar is a cut and dressed stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stones of India</span>

India possesses a wide spectrum of dimensional stones that include granite, marble, sandstone, limestone, slate, and quartzite, in various parts of the country.

The architecture of Israel has been influenced by the different architectural styles of those who have inhabited the country over time, sometimes modified to suit the local climate and landscape. Byzantine churches, Crusader castles, Islamic madrasas, Templer houses, Arab arches and minarets, Russian Orthodox onion domes, International Style modernist buildings, sculptural concrete Brutalist architecture, and glass-sided skyscrapers all are part of the architecture of Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kiryat Shmuel, Jerusalem</span> Neighborhood in Jerusalem

Kiryat Shmuel is a neighborhood in central West Jerusalem founded in 1926. It is named for Rabbi Shmuel Salant, the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem in 1878–1909. Kiryat Shmuel is located between Rehavia and Katamon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zedekiah's Cave</span>

Zedekiah's Cave, also known as Solomon's Quarries, is a 5-acre (20,000 m2) underground meleke limestone quarry under the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem that runs the length of five city blocks. It was carved over a period of several thousand years and is a remnant of the largest quarry in Jerusalem.

Professor Asher Shadmon is an Israeli engineering geologist who served as the first President of the International Association for Engineering Geology (IAEG). He has served on the United Nations International Commission on Building Stones and is a distinguished international consultant on stone as a building material.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meleke</span>

Meleke, also transliterated melekeh or malaki, is a lithologic type of white, coarsely-crystalline, thickly bedded-limestone found in the Judaean Mountains in Israel. It has been used in the traditional architecture of Jerusalem since ancient times, especially in Herodian architecture. Though it is often popularly referred to as Jerusalem stone, that phrase can refer to a number of different types of stone found and used in or associated with Jerusalem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herodian architecture</span> Building style named after Herod the Great

Herodian architecture is a style of classical architecture characteristic of the numerous building projects undertaken during the reign of Herod the Great, the Roman client king of Judea. Herod undertook many colossal building projects, most famously his reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Many of his structures were built upon comparable, previous Hasmonean buildings and most of his have, in their turn, vanished as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siebenberg House</span> Archaeological museum in Jerusalem


Siebenberg House is an underground archaeology museum, located below a house, in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horvat Burgin</span> Archaeological site in Israel

Horvat Burgin, or Burgin, is an archaeological site in the Judaean Lowlands. Settlement at the site began in the Iron Age. During the Second Temple period, it was a Jewish settlement, which was abandoned in the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. In the Byzantine period it was populated by Christians, likely including Georgian monks. In the modern period, it was a small Arab hamlet named Khirbat Umm Burj, which was depopulated in 1948.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Migdal Synagogue</span> Synagogue of ancient Magdala, Galilee, Israel

The Migdal Synagogue or Magdala Synagogue is the name used for the first of two ancient synagogues discovered at the ancient city of Magdala in Israel, close to the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Both synagogues were in use in the Second Temple period, which places them among the oldest synagogues found in Israel.

Tel Arza is a Hareidi neighborhood in northern Jerusalem. It is bordered by Ezrat Torah on the west, Shikun Chabad on the south, the Bukharim quarter on the east, and Sanhedria on the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deir Yassin</span> Place in Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine

Deir Yassin was a Palestinian Arab village of around 600 inhabitants about 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) west of Jerusalem. Deir Yassin declared its neutrality during the 1948 Palestine war between Arabs and Jews. The village was razed after a massacre of around 107 of its Arab residents on April 9, 1948, by the Jewish paramilitary groups Irgun and Lehi. The village buildings are today part of the Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center, an Israeli public psychiatric hospital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Connemara marble</span> National gemstone of Ireland

Connemara marble or "Irish green" is a rare variety of green marble from Connemara, Ireland. It is used as a decoration and building material. Its colour causes it to often be associated with the Irish identity, and for this reason it has been named the national gemstone of Ireland. It strongly resembles the verd antique, a green serpentinite breccia found in the Mediterranean. It is named after the region in which it is found. The marble was deposited as a limestone mud during the neoproterozoic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stone vessels in ancient Judaea</span>

The use of stone vessels made from soft limestone among Jews during the Second Temple period and beyond was widespread across Judea, the Galilee and the Golan Heights. Initially appearing in the early 1st century BCE, these vessels continued to be utilized until different times in various regions. In Judea, their use was traditionally thought to have ceased after the destruction of the Second Temple, but discoveries in places like Jericho and Shuafat indicate their continued use until the Bar Kokhba revolt. Conversely, in the Galilee, their use persisted at least until the 4th century CE. These stone vessels were found in all regions densely populated by Jews, often in settlements featuring ritual baths, serving as a significant indicator of Jewish presence from the early Roman period through the Byzantine era.

References

  1. 1 2 Teitelbaum, Ilana (Oct 19, 2010). "Is Jerusalem Stone Under Threat? - Green Prophet" . Retrieved Nov 18, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Influence of Geological Conditions on the Development of Jerusalem, M. Avnimelech, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 181 (Feb., 1966), pp. 24-31
  3. Shiloh, Yigal; Horowitz, Aharon (February 1975). "Ashlar Quarries of the Iron Age in the Hill Country of Israel Ashlar Quarries of the Iron Age in the Hill Country of Israel". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 217: 37–48.
  4. "Holy Land's 'Jerusalem stone' cements base of U.S. buyers, Denver Business Journal". Denver.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2012-08-28.
  5. Deutscher Verein Zur Erforschung Palästinas, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins Band XXVII, Leipzig 1904. London: Forgotten Books. 2013. pp. 361–2. Retrieved 2014-08-28.
  6. Arkin, Yaacov and Amos Ecker (2007), “Report GSI/12/2007: Geotechnical and Hydrogeological Concerns in Developing the Infrastructure Around Jerusalem” Archived 2009-03-05 at the Wayback Machine , The Ministry of National Infrastructures, Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel, July 2007.
  7. Goldberger, Paul (September 10, 1995). "Passion Set in Stone, New York Times, Sept. 10, 1995". New York Times . Retrieved 2012-08-28.
  8. "Jerusalem Architecture Since 1948". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Archived from the original on 2016-10-22. Retrieved 2012-08-28.
  9. The British Mandate Archived 2015-12-16 at the Wayback Machine from "Jerusalem: Life Throughout the Ages in a Holy City". Online course material from the Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
  10. Levin, Harry (1950). Jerusalem Embattled: A Diary of the City Under Siege. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd. p. 276.
  11. Supplying the world with Jerusalem stone, Stoneworld.com.
  12. Palestinians' stones cut both ways Ilene Prusher, The Christian Science Monitor, January 4, 2000
  13. "FindArticles.com - CBSi". Archived from the original on 2008-01-19.
  14. Philip Nobel, "ART/ARCHITECTURE; What Design For a Synagogue Spells Jewish?," December 2, 2001, New York Times .
  15. "Jerusalem Stone forms a haven in Costa Rica, Reflecting the spirit of Israel, a large quantity of Jerusalem Stone was used for a new Jewish Community Center in San Jose, Costa Rica, Stone World, 19 November 2005" . Retrieved Nov 18, 2022.[ permanent dead link ]
  16. "OU Life - Everyday Jewish Living". OU Life. Retrieved Nov 19, 2022.
  17. "Solomon's Temple in Brazil would put Christ the Redeemer in the shade; Huge replica planned for Sâo Paulo would be twice the height of the iconic statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro Tom Phillips, July 21, 2010, The Guardian .

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Meleke at Wikimedia Commons