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There are a handful of important sites to visit outside the Old City of Jerusalem. In this post, I’ll mention a few of them I was able to see. Not covered are sites along Jaffa Road.
Mamilla Mall
Mamilla Mall sits just outside the Jaffa Gate of the Old City and is the only open-air shopping mall in Jerusalem. It opened in two stages from 2007 to 2008.
Mamilla was originally a neighborhood established in the late 19th century. It was a mixed Jewish and Arab business district from its foundation until the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. From 1949 to 1969, the western ¾ of the neighborhood belonged to Israel while the eastern quarter was a no-man’s land between Israeli and Jordanian lines. Most of the eastern end, which makes up today’s Mamilla Mall, was destroyed by Jordanian shelling.
After the Six-Day War in 1967, controversial redevelopment plans stalled any reconstruction of the area. It remained an eyesore for several years throughout the 1970s and 80s. 700 families were evicted from their homes during that time. Construction was delayed several times for several different reasons. The heart of the redevelopment project was the upscale Mamilla Mall, which opened 37 years after its initial proposal.
Features of Mamilla Mall
The mall consists of a 610 meter (2,000 foot) pedestrian promenade lined by international stores, restaurants, cafés, and office space. It sits atop a multi-story parking garage and bus terminal. There are also two hotels and a condominium complex, which were completed in the 1990s.
Mamilla Mall is lined with 19th century façades restored from the original Mamilla Street as well as a few original buildings. There are 140 stores taking up 28,000 square meters (300,000 square feet) of retail space. They attract tourists and locals of all different ethnic and religious backgrounds. Up to 20,000 people visit the mall daily during peak tourist season.
Along the promenade, there are often art exhibitions and sculptures on display. All of the pieces are made by local artists and many are for sale.
Convent of St. Vincent de Paul
One prominent building along Mamilla Mall is the Convent of St. Vincent de Paul. It was built in 1886 and was the first structure on Mamilla Street. It’s operated by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, an order of French nuns. It housed an orphanage, old-age home, and a shelter for the mentally and physically handicapped.
Jerusalem International YMCA
A few blocks south of Mamilla Mall along King David Street is the Jerusalem International YMCA, which was established in the early 20th century. In 1924, Archibald Clinton Harte, the General Secretary of the International YMCA, raised $1 million towards its construction.
The cornerstone of the building was laid in 1928 by Herbert Plumer (1857-1932), the British High Commissioner for Palestine, on a plot of land purchased from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. It opened on April 18, 1933, and was designed by American architect Arthur Loomis Harmon (1878-1958).
The Jerusalem YMCA contained the city’s first heated swimming pool and first gymnasium with a wooden floor. It also had the only football stadium in Jerusalem until 1991, housing the Beitar Jerusalem Football Club.
Monastery of the Cross
The Monastery of the Cross is a historic monastery near the Nayot neighborhood in Jerusalem. It sits west of the Old City and south of the Knesset.
The Monastery of the Cross was built on the site of Lot’s tree. Christians believe the tree was used to make the cross on which Jesus was crucified.
History of the Monastery of the Cross
The first church built on the site was commissioned by Constantine the Great in the 4th century. It was given to King Mirian III of Kartli in 327, after he adopted Christianity as the official religion of his kingdom. That church was destroyed by the Sassanids in 614. It was rebuilt and destroyed again in the early 11th century by Caliph Al-Hakim.
The current church was built in the middle of the 11th century by Giorgi-Prokhore of Shavsheti, a monk from Iberia (modern Georgia). It became one of the most important centers of Iberian monasticism in the Holy Land. There were over 100 monks, with scholars, scientists, and artists among them. Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli (c. 1160-c. 1220) once lived there, and there’s a fresco of him on one of the columns in the church.
Due to heavy debts, the Georgians were forced to sell the monastery to the Greek Orthodox in 1685. The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem administers the monastery to this day.
Lot’s Tree
A corridor on the left aisle of the church leads to an area behind the altar, where there’s a hole in the floor indicating the spot where Lot’s tree once stood. Also in the corridor is a crucifix that once stood over Golgotha in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Monastery of Saint Simeon
The Monastery of Saint Simeon is located in the Katamon neighborhood outside the old city of Jerusalem. It encloses the house and tomb of St. Simeon.
The first monastery was built by the Georgians in the 12th century. It was destroyed and laid in ruins for several centuries until a Greek monk named Abramios purchased the property in the 19th century. Abramios worked for 20 years to rebuild the monastery and the church. The Monastery of Saint Simeon now belongs to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
Tomb of St. Simeon
In 1879, Abramios found the natural rock tomb of St. Simeon. It sits in a chapel on the left side of the church. The tomb is surrounded by icons depicting scenes in St. Simeon’s life.
The saint, who had moved from Jerusalem to Alexandria, was a translator of the Hebrew Bible into Greek. According to tradition, St. Simeon hesitated over a translation of a verse by Prophet Isaiah: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive…”.
Because of this verse, he dropped his ring in a river and said if he ever found the ring again, he would believe what Isaiah had written. Later, he was staying with friends in a small town and bought a fish to eat. While preparing the fish, he found the ring inside its belly. He then believed the verse and moved back to Jerusalem.
St. Simeon prayed to live long enough to see the Messiah. According to Luke 2:25-35, St. Simeon met the Virgin Mary and Joseph during the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. After seeing Jesus, he uttered the prayer:
“Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”
St. Simeon then died at the age of 270. His relics were transferred to Constantinople (now Istanbul) by Emperor Justinian I in the 6th century.
