A model of the Temple Mount (Haram esh-Sharif) made by Conrad Schick in 1873 has been put on permanent display at the Heritage Center of Christ Church in Jerusalem. From Haaretz:
The model was made 140 years ago by the architect and archaeologist Conrad Schick, whose work in Jerusalem was supported by the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews. Its details reveal that its creator had access to places where no Western scholar of his day was allowed.
“Every time they dug a hole in the Temple Mount, he ran there to examine it,” said Prof. Haim Goren of Tel Hai Academic College, an expert on Schick’s work.
Schick, who made the model in an orphanage’s woodworking workshop where he taught, crafted it for display at the 1873 Vienna World’s Fair. It’s four meters long and three meters wide.
Like many of Schick’s models, this one had dozens of parts that could be dismantled to show inner, underground areas.
“It’s not only beautiful, it’s also an important research tool, because it was built by a man who visited every pit and understood the topography in a way we can’t fathom,” Gibson said.
The full story is here. You can read more about Conrad Schick at a website dedicated to him. They have many photos of the model at Christ Church, his 1879 model of the Temple Mount, his models at the Schmidt’s Girls School, and others.
2 thoughts on “Temple Mount Model at Christ Church, Jerusalem”
Thanks Todd for sharing this … next time I make it to Jerusalem? These models will be on the agenda.
Very cool