This decorative map of Jerusalem was created in the 1670s by the famous Dutch artist Romeyn de Hooghe (1645–1708). The title of the map is “Hierusalem,” the Latin name for Jerusalem, and it is written in a ribbon at the top, in which the Hebrew name of God is inscribed on the sun.
The drawing here was not designed to be accurate but rather as an imaginary plan of the Temple and its surrounding Old City of Jerusalem. In the centre of the image and raised above the rest of Jerusalem is the site of the Temple. This area is titled “Ariel,” a name used in Hebrew for either the Temple or Jerusalem. The raised ground upon which the Temple is built is marked with the word “Moria,” the biblical name for this mountain. The Temple is surrounded by three walls and inside the innermost wall the artist has drawn the Holy of Holies as a tall building and outside its entrance the altar, where a sacrifice offered and burnt is clearly visible.
The rest of Jerusalem has been illustrated with a fair amount of artistic license, most relying on the artist’s imagination. The buildings are surrounded by walls and include many gardens, the streets are wide, and in the intersections are water fountains – a depiction that clearly resembles a medieval European city.
Also of interest is the area outside the city. In the bottom left of the map, outside the walls and next to the word “Golgata,” is a wooden cross, illustrating the crucifixions that were carried outside the city walls. In the bottom right are a group of people, probably travellers or even pilgrims, on their way to the city. They are riding horses and camels and next to them are some rather European looking cows grazing in a very non-typical green field. The top of the map depicts the area east of Jerusalem as green and hilly. The map also includes names of places mentioned in the Bible, such as Gilgal, Anatoth, and Absalon’s (Avshalom) Grave.
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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.
Romeyn de Hooghe – De Hooghe (1645–1708) was one of the greatest artists of the late Dutch Golden Age, producing over 3,000 different prints in total. He was born in Amsterdam and was active from 1670 during a period derogatively referred to as the Pruikentijd (Periwig Era), when the Dutch Republic fell into decline. He is considered an important figure in the development of modern political satire, due to his cartoons depicting the wars between William of Orange and Louis XIV, the Catholic king of France.
