This black and white map or picture of Jerusalem was created by the famous Dutch publisher Isaak Tirion in 1732. It is titled in Dutch, “Jerusalem As It Is Today” and reflects the city during the Ottoman Period.
The image was designed as if the artist was standing on the Mount of Olives, looking over the valley towards the Old City of Jerusalem. At the centre of this map is the eastern area of the Old City. In the centre is an almost empty space, depicting the ruins contained within the walls of the Temple courtyard, ruins that can still be seen today by visitors who ascend the Temple Mount. Behind this is a large building with a dome, presumably the Dome of the Rock. Other buildings in the background reflect the Muslim building style and include many minarets. Surrounding the buildings are the city walls, with a few buildings visible beyond these walls. The tall structure dominating the skyline on the left of the image is the Tower of David, which can also be visited today and remains one of the tallest structures in the Old City. In the foreground are several shepherds dressed in traditional Arab dress, looking out over the scene.
This picture, in contrast to many others from this period, seems to be based on the reality of the time and less on imagination. While Tirion is known to have based most of his Jerusalem works on works by other people, it is not known whether he actually travelled to Jerusalem.
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Ancient Maps of Jerusalem - Jerusalem, the holy city of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, has been the focus of study and interest for centuries. Before the invention of print, maps were drawn on parchment, usually as part of a Bible or holy book. Other maps were drawn on walls or created as floor mosaics. The first printed map of Jerusalem appeared in the late fifteenth century, and maps of Jerusalem have subsequently appeared in many books and publications throughout the world. Most ancient maps of Jerusalem were not created to guide people on their travels like modern maps. Rather, they were intended to tell a story or to convey ideas or information about the Holy City for European Christians who could not travel to Jerusalem because of the high costs and the dangers of the journey. For this reason, a map which presented the holy sites to the believers was seen as a substitute to the actual journey. These maps were often produced by Christian scholars, most of whom hadn't actually been to Jerusalem, and as a result, the Jerusalem of the ancient maps actually looks more like London, Paris, Amsterdam or other European cities. The impressions portrayed in the maps of Jerusalem existed in the hearts and minds of the European Christian mapmakers and readers rather than describing the city as it really was. Until the early nineteenth century, maps of Jerusalem tended to be artistic drawings of landscapes, without measurements, scale or accurate perspective. Scenes and locations from different historical periods were depicted side by side, combining the representation of real locations with the biblical concepts associated with them.
