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Jaffa Road is one of the oldest and most important streets in Jerusalem. It sits outside the Old City, running from the west end of the modern city to the walls of the Old City.
Introduction to Jaffa Road
Jaffa Road was originally developed in 1861 as the main highway between Jerusalem and the port city of Jaffa, which has since been annexed by Tel Aviv. It soon became the city’s most important commercial district. Today, Jaffa Road is a pedestrian mall served by the Jerusalem Light Rail. There are several historic buildings and landmarks along the road.
We stayed at an apartment on Jaffa Road, and decided to explore the road on our way to the Old City. We started at Mahane Yehuda Market and finished at the Jaffa Gate. It took us about 90 minutes at a slow pace, reading many of the historical markers along the way.
Mahane Yehuda Market
Mahane Yehuda Market is a popular market between Jaffa Road and Agripas Street. Also known as the Shuk, Mahane Yehuda Market was founded in the late 19th century. There are over 250 vendors selling meat, cheese, fresh fruits and vegetables, bread, spices, nuts, wine, fish, clothing, shoes, and more. There are also cafés, restaurants, juice bars, and fast food stands.
Two main streets run through Mahane Yehuda Market. Mahane Yehuda Street is an open-air market while Etz Hayyim Street is covered. Those streets are connected by a series of smaller streets named mostly for fruits and nuts.
The market is open Sunday through Thursday from 8am to 7pm, and on Fridays from 8am to 3pm. Some restaurants remain open past those hours and on Saturdays, making the market a popular spot for nightlife. Mahane Yehuda Market attracts an estimated 200,000 people weekly.
Artwork at Mahane Yehuda Market
Mahane Yehuda Market has been a hotspot for artwork since 2011. Many walls, concrete slabs, and shop shutters are decorated with colorful murals. If you visit at night, you’ll be able to see the shop shutters, which have been painted with the permission of the owners.
Tours of Mahane Yehuda Market
We visited the market on our own, once during the day to experience the actual market and once at night to find some dinner. To get a more complete experience, there are guided tours for different interests, including nightlife tours, graffiti tours, cooking classes, and more.
Self-guided tours through the Mahane Yehuda Bite Card allow visitors to explore the market at their own pace, sampling a variety of flavors on offer. They include six different items, including a traditional baked good, an authentic Jerusalem dish, meat patty or hummus, health drink, craft beer, and coffee or ice cream. The Bite Card also comes with a complimentary audio guide requiring your smart phone with data service and headphones. It costs ₪145 per person (as of May 2024).
Baladiyeh Municipal Hospital
The first landmark we noticed after leaving Mahane Yehuda Market is the Baladiyeh Municipal Hospital. It was built in 1882 as a residential complex but was converted to a hospital by the Ottoman authorities at the end of the 19th century. Since the British Mandate period (1919-1948), it has served as the district health office. The tughra of the Ottoman Sultan sits atop the building.
Residence of the British Consul
Across the street is the former residence of British Consul. It was originally built for Noel Temple Moore, who served in Jerusalem from 1863 to 1890, but was used for other consuls until World War I. The building was constructed in different stages during the 19th century.
Since 1920, it has housed the Mahane Yehuda Police Station. Two lion sculptures sit outside the entrance. They’re believed to be the work of Simcha Janower (1846-1909).
Davidka Square
Next, we passed Davidka Square. It’s surrounded on three sides by shops and Jaffa Road on the fourth side. The square was renovated in 2009 by Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta (1931-2011). Its official name is Freedom Square.
The square features a small memorial to the Davidka, a homemade Israeli mortar used during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The memorial was designed in 1956 by Hungarian-born Israeli architect Asher Hiram (1897-1973).
Mashiach Borochoff House
A short walk away is the Mashiach Borochoff House, which was completed in 1908. It was built by Mashiach Borochoff, a wealthy Bukharan Jewish merchant. Borochoff died in 1946, and the building was sold to Barclays a year later and converted to a bank branch. In 1993, it became a branch of Mercantile Discount Bank. The lion sculptures out front, similar to the ones outside the residence of the British Consul, were sculpted by Simcha Janower.
Zion Square
A couple blocks down we came to Zion Square. It was originally constructed as a roundabout by the British in the 1920s. From the 1930s to 2011, it was a popular place for demonstrations and protests.
Zion Square was also the site of two terrorist bombings. On July 4, 1975, a refrigerator loaded with explosives detonated in the square, killing 15 and wounding 77. On March 24, 1979, a bomb exploded in a garbage can, killing 1 and wounding 13.
Sansur Building
The Sansur Building sits on the west side of Zion Square. It was built in 1929 by a Palestinian Christian merchant from Bethlehem. It once housed Café Europe, which was popular with Jews, Arabs, and the British in the 1930s and 1940s.
Nikolai Pilgrims Hostel
Next is the Nikolai Pilgrims Hostel, which is part of the Russian Compound. It was built in 1903 to house Russian pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land. The hostel was named after Tsar Nicholas II and could accommodate up to 1,200 people.
During the British Mandate period, part of the building was used as a police headquarters and government offices. Later, it served as the British Intelligence headquarters. It was blown up twice by Jewish underground organization Irgun, first on March 23, 1944, and again on December 27, 1945.
Holy Trinity Cathedral
A short walk off Jaffa Road into the Russian Compound is Holy Trinity Cathedral. It was built between 1860 and 1872 by Russian architect Martin Eppinger (1822-1873). During the British Mandate period, it was under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR). Since 1948, it has been under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Holy Trinity Cathedral was made of white stone and is shaped like a cross. There are eight domes topped with crosses. The interior is covered with murals and icons.
King Og’s Finger
Just outside the cathedral is King Og’s Finger. It’s a huge monolithic pillar 12 meters (40 feet) long still embedded in an ancient quarry. The pillar was abandoned because it broke while it was being quarried. It dates back to either the Second Temple or Byzantine period and was discovered in 1871.
Safra Square
Back to Jaffa Road, the next point of interest is Safra Square, which was closed to the public when we walked by. The square is named for Jacob and Esther Safra, the parents of Lebanese Jewish banker and philanthropist Edmond Safra (1932-1999).
Safra Square houses houses Jerusalem’s municipal complex, which was built in the 1990s. There was some interesting public art lining Jaffa Road in front of the square.
Armenian Building
Next, in front of the City Hall light rail station is the Armenian Building. It was built in 1900 by the Armenian Patriarchate to earn revenue. Before World War I, it housed the Russian post office. It also served for some time as the Hughes Hotel.
Historic Jerusalem Town Hall
Across the street is the historic Jerusalem town hall. It was built in 1930 during the British Mandate period. It was designed by British architect Clifford Holliday (1897-1960) and used as a municipal building until 1993.
Tzahal Square
The old town hall faces Tzahal Square, which is named for the Israeli Defense Forces. It was originally called Allenby Square, after Edmund Allenby (1861-1936), the British commander who captured Palestine from the Ottoman Empire during World War I. There’s an I Love Jerusalem sculpture and great views of the walls of the Old City.
St. Louis French Hospital
Another building on Tzahal Square is the St. Louis French Hospital. It was founded in the Christian Quarter in 1851 and relocated to its current building in 1880. From 1948 to 1967, it was located in no-man’s land between Israel and Jordan. During that time, it only cared for a small number of patients in advanced stages of cancer. The hospital offers care to people of all faiths, mostly with advanced disease. It’s run by the French Sisters of St. Joseph.
