Gallery
Description
Property Name: Jerusalem Citadel, city tower, Ottoman army garrison, Bab Al-Khalil Qal’a, Al-Qal’a (citadel)
Inventory No: 972-2-19
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2020-07-29
Country (State party): Palestine
Province: Al Quds/Jerusalem
Town: Old town
Geographic coordinates: 31°46’33.86″N
35°13’41.58″E
Historic Period: Ayyubid, Mamluk, and Ottoman
Year of Construction: 1537-39 AC
Style:
Original Use: Citadel
Current Use: Museum
Architect: Unknown
Significance
The city tower named by the Muslim simply as Qal’a (citadel) is called the Tower of David by Christians and Jews. In fact, the Qal’a has nothing to do with the King David period of the city. The Qal’a was the garrison of the Ottoman soldiers charged with the protection of the city. Because of the barracks and the training square next to it, the Qal’a was the center of diplomatic and military life in the city.
From the earliest beginnings of the construction of a citadel in Jerusalem on the days of the early Jebusites, it was demolished and re-established more than once throughout its ancient history. With the possibility of indicating the remainder of the Canaanite, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine monuments, the existing castle is mostly an Islamic castle, it was able to absorb its general structure since Herod the Great Adumian (4-38) BC, and the Umayyad Castle that is smaller than the existing list, renewed. The additions that the Franks added after their occupation of the city in the year (492 AH / 1099 AD), and the reforms of the Sultans of Bani Ayoub in it since Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi’s success in liberating Jerusalem in the year 583 AH / 1187 AD and reconstructing the property owned by it. Following the success of Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil bin Qalawun in liberating Acre and expelling the Franks from the east in the year 691 AH / 1291 CE, a list remained according to the description of Jerusalem historian Mujir al-Din al-Hanbali; The Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, in the year (938 AH / 1531 AD), ordered the restoration of its buildings.
Selection Criteria
ii. to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design
iii. to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared
vi. to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance
State of Preservation
In order to preserve the castle and perform its function, the Ottomans carried out several renovations therein as in the years (938 AH / 1531 CE), (963 AH / 1555 CE), (1065 AH / 1654 CE), (1144 AH / 1731 CE), and (1151 AH / 1738 CE). The British Mandate took care of the castle, restored it, and turned it into a cultural center and local exhibition halls. What irritated the Supreme Islamic Legislative Council, which took over its supervision until 1926 AD. And after the demise of the British Mandate for Palestine, the Quds Castle fell to the custody of the Jordanian army. In particular, he returned her mosque to his original use. After the aggression of 1967 AD, which was the occupation of the city, it provided a great opportunity to conduct extensive excavations that serve the idea of Judaization and falsification of the city’s authentic Arab Islamic history; To achieve this, The occupation was opened in the month of April 1989 AD museums.
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