Jerusalem Explored, Volume 2—Plates: Being a Description of the Ancient and Modern City, with Numerous Illustrations Consisting of Views, Ground Plans and Sections

In Short

This volume serves as the comprehensive atlas to a larger study of Jerusalem’s structural history. It consists of over sixty plates—detailed floor plans, intricate cross-sections, and panoramic views—documenting the city’s ancient walls, subterranean passages, and religious sanctuaries. By documenting the work of an architect-engineer, the book provides a bridge between classical archaeological scholarship and the physical reality of the city in the 1860s. It endures as a vital reference for understanding how Jerusalem’s complex, overlapping layers of history were perceived and mapped during a pivotal era of exploration.

The Story

The narrative arc of this volume follows the logical progression of an explorer surveying a city from the outside in, and from the surface down. The journey begins with the panoramic scale of the Mount of Olives, establishing the city’s setting within the surrounding valleys of Kidron and Hinnom. Once the broad context is established, the focus shifts to the modern city’s walls, carefully tracing the path of gates like the Jaffa and Damascus gates, which have anchored the city's life for centuries.

From the external boundaries, the exploration moves into the interior. The reader is guided through the dense network of convents, hospices, and traditional sites, such as the Via Dolorosa, each marked with the precision of a surveyor’s notebook. This mapping leads to the most significant architectural feature of the city: the Haram es-Sherif. The plates here are exhaustive, detailing the mosque of El-Aksa and the Kubbet es-Sakharah, not merely as surface structures but through their subterranean works, cisterns, and foundational vaults.

The focus then descends beneath the modern surface to uncover the "hidden" city. The Royal Caverns, the Grotto of Jeremiah, and the conduits used for water management reveal a deeper, ancient infrastructure that once supported an earlier metropolis. The argument here is cumulative; by showing how these ancient stones and conduits align with contemporary landmarks, the work demonstrates the continuity of the city’s development across successive eras—from the Jebusite and Solomonic periods through the Roman, Byzantine, and Saracenic occupations.

The final section of the volume moves into the city’s periphery, documenting the tombs and necropolises that ring the outer hills. These plates—the Tombs of the Kings, the Tombs of the Judges, and the monuments in the Valley of Jehoshaphat—serve as a somber coda. By detailing the sarcophagi and the ingenious stone-door mechanisms of these ancient burials, the work closes the loop on the city’s history. It concludes by returning to the western outskirts, detailing the Church of the Holy Cross and the Pool of Mamillah, effectively mapping the transition from the city’s religious heart to the rugged topography of the Judean landscape. The volume leaves the reader with a sense of the city not as a static object, but as a vast, interconnected machine of stone, water, and faith.

How It Unfolds

The city in scope The opening plates establish the topography of Jerusalem, positioning it within its mountainous surroundings. By viewing the city from the Mount of Olives, the reader gains a sense of its precarious perch above the Kidron and Tyropoeon valleys.

The walls and the gates The focus tightens onto the perimeter of the modern city, cataloging the gates and the fortifications that define its borders. These plates trace the masonry from the Solomonic foundations up through the more recent Saracenic restorations.

Descending into the foundation The heart of the investigation lies beneath the surface, where the author maps the subterranean passages and cisterns. These sections reveal the ancient water systems and hidden vaults that lie beneath the Haram es-Sherif and the mosques.

The sanctuaries of faith The survey moves into the interior of the primary religious sites, such as the Church of the Resurrection and the Armenian Church of St. James. Detailed floor plans show how these buildings have been layered with additions, mosaics, and altars over successive centuries.

The necropolis of the hills The final movement turns outward to the tombs that surround the city, documenting the architectural detail of individual burial chambers. These plates conclude the work by highlighting the sophisticated masonry and locking mechanisms used in the ancient Jewish sepulchers.

The People

Though the text is primarily a technical record, the presence of various historical figures lingers in the structures described. King Solomon and Herod the Great are present as the architects of the foundational walls and pools, their work serving as the essential bedrock for all later construction. The Roman influence appears through the archways and the remains of the Tower Antonia, while Justinian is represented by the basilica work and the decorative motifs found in the Haram es-Sherif.

Ermete Pierotti acts as the primary guide, though he is less of a character and more of an observant, disciplined eye. He acts as the intermediary, documenting the traditions of the local populations—such as the Jews who gather to pray at the Wailing Place—alongside the physical reality of the ruins. The "Daughters of Sion" and the various religious orders, such as the Dervishes who guard the Haram or the monks who maintain the Greek convents, appear as the stewards of these ancient sites. They are the living connection to the structures being surveyed, and their presence grounds the architectural descriptions in the social reality of the mid-19th century.

In Its Own Voice

"This Wall is of the date of Herod the Great, and is the best specimen of the Masonry of that period to be found in Jerusalem."

In this observation regarding the Wailing Place, the author identifies a key benchmark for dating the city's surviving ancient masonry.

"The Jews come to pray and weep before it every Friday."

Following the architectural description, this line captures the enduring religious significance of the ancient wall for the local community.

What It's Really About

This book is fundamentally an argument for the legibility of history through stone. It operates on the premise that Jerusalem is a palimpsest; by measuring the thickness of walls, the angle of an arch, and the depth of a cistern, one can peel back the modern city to reveal the ancient one beneath. It asks how much of the past is still holding up the present. The work is less concerned with theological debate and more with the physical reality of survival—how water was moved, how stones were cut, and how layers of civilization were built directly on top of one another. It is a testament to the idea that architecture is the most permanent form of historical record.

Why Read It Today

This volume is an essential experience for those who appreciate the intersection of engineering and archaeology. It is not a casual narrative; it is a clinical, observational record. Readers who enjoy the process of discovery—the "detective work" of identifying a Roman arch within an Arab wall or tracing a water pipe through a subterranean cavern—will find this a rewarding, meditative read.

However, it is a work of its time. The attitudes regarding the city’s population and the religious significance of sites reflect the mid-19th-century perspective of a European engineer in the service of a local Pasha. The reader should be prepared for a dense, index-heavy format that rewards patience over speed. Because the volume is composed of plates and technical descriptions, it functions best as a companion to the imagination, allowing one to reconstruct the city piece by piece. It captures a version of Jerusalem that has since shifted under the pressures of modernization, and for that reason, it remains an invaluable, atmospheric document for anyone seeking to see the city not as it is today, but as it stood in the quiet, dusty intensity of the 1860s.