Italian Hospital

• The Italian Hospital (see photo of its tower at http://www.travelblog.org/Photos/182699.html ) is an imposing building in three parts: two massive hospital wings flank a huge church, all in the style of Italian architecture at the end of the 19th century. Diagonally across Rehov HaNeviim (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/street-of-prophets.html ) from Frutiger's Beit Mahanaim (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/frutiger.html ), it, too, now houses Ministry of Education offices.
• During World War I, the Ottoman Turks (http://wsu.edu/~dee/OTTOMAN/OTTOMAN1.HTM ) expropriated it from the Italians (who were fighting against them and the Germans), and it suffered damage. After the war, the original architect saw to its rebuilding.
• During World War II the British (http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/palmanda.htm ) expropriated it from the Italians (who, allied with the Germans, were fighting against them) and used it as headquarters and housing for the RAF.
• When the British left in 1948, Israel managed to take it over. Jordan's Arab Legion shelled it. You can see damage to the facade. In the early 1950s, Italy demanded that Israel repair it. Israel replied that it was Jordan that damaged it Eventually Italy and Israel agreed to a sale of the building.
• The church was deconsecrated and now sports a huge mezzuzah. The bare rectangles along the walls once held coats of arms of Italian families or cities. Pressure from a type of religious Jews who don't like crosses and think history largely irrelevant caused the city to remove these symbols.
• After walking west in the warm sunshine along Rehov HaNeviim, we turned to get a good view of the back of the building from the plaza where the RAF's tennis courts used to be.
• See http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/frutiger.html and http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/ethiopian-church.html for the beginning and the end of the walk along the Street of the Prophets. But there's more in the middle.

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox