Professor of art history Kathryn Moore organized a virtual conference on Webex about the sacred art and spaces of Jerusalem featuring scholars and art historians Heba Mostafa, Megan Boomer and Nisa Ari. They were each allotted an hour to present on their topics during the conference on March 7 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Mostafa’s talk was titled “Visions of an Otherworld: Re-imagined Sanctities in Early Islamic Jerusalem,” which focused on architecture such as the Dome of the Rock, an important religious structure for the Abrahamic faiths. It houses a significant stone that the Old Testament’s Adam and Abraham are associated with.
Boomer’s talk was titled “Constructing the Past in a Crusading Present” and focused on the Latin occupation of Jerusalem after the First Crusade, where the Dome of the Rock was repurposed as a Christian church and was renamed the Templum Domini after many of the people taking care of the building were massacred. The talk also focused on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
This article will focus on Ari’s talk, which was titled “‘Parasitic’ to Picturesque: Re-Envisioning Jerusalem During the British Mandate.”
The talk began with the context of the end of World War I and the British Army’s occupation of Palestine in December of 1917, after ousting the Ottomans. Three years of rations were deemed “primal necessities” along with rebuilding the city of Jerusalem, which had litter and refuse all around the area.
The term “wasteland” was used to describe the post-war conditions of Palestine. Ari noted the term’s Christian origins and explained that a wasteland, while devastated, is “possible to redeem” in British eyes. The British government viewed itself as the savior of the land. It’s interesting to note that the British government wanted stone vault cities, but instead, materials such as iron and stucco were used to build structures.
The land of Jerusalem was described as “picturesque but filthy,” which seems contradictory. Furthermore, Ari said that Jerusalem’s aesthetic was spoiled by industrialization. She noted that the surface-level problem of refuse around Jerusalem has deeper parasitic implications.
The Pro-Jerusalem Society was founded in 1918 and wanted a tabula rasa, or a clean slate, for Jerusalem. The architect Charles Robert Ashbee made a document called the “Jerusalem Notebooks,” which held his plans for the city. Contents included a drawing of the Jaffa Road “to construct a new future for Palestine” and a courtyard-like area with an olive tree. A chandelier made by Ashbee and glass blowers were also shown. Ashbee’s goal according to Ari was “spiritual synthesis.”
The architect Arthur Loomis Harmon built Jerusalem’s YMCA, or Young Men’s Christian Association. A picture of how detailed the insides of the building were shown along with the interiors of the Palace and King David Hotels.
“It strikes me as ironic,” Ari said, how much of Ashbee’s work was under “a veneer of interreligious unity.” It led to a new form of parasitism that Euro-American capitalism enables. When referring to the “Jerusalem Notebooks,” Ari said, “The images he chose were bad,” citing how overexposed some of the photos were.
“It is as though he is writing a new narrative for Jerusalem,” ignoring the suffering and poverty in Jerusalem. In the notebook, Ashbee described people in rags and then showed a picture of a woman in an elaborate wedding dress. “He’s not just getting rid of modern centuries of accumulation, he’s getting rid of a certain part of Jerusalem’s history.”
There was a short Q&A roundtable with all of the speakers and Moore after Ari’s talk. Mostafa described how exciting visiting Jerusalem as a scholar to document and preserve history instead of a tourist or devotee. Boomer talked about respecting the custodians of these religious and artistic sites. She noted that there are places in Jerusalem where scholars wouldn’t go because it feels intrusive.
The talks were recorded and uploaded to YouTube days after the conference.