Expansion of Jerusalem in the 19th century

Jerusalem in 1873, shown in three dimensions.

The expansion of Jerusalem outside of the Old City walls, which included shifting the city center to the new neighborhoods, started in the mid-19th century and by the early 20th century had entirely transformed the city. Prior to the 19th century, the main built up areas outside the walls were the complex around King David's Tomb on the southern Mount Zion, and the village of Silwan.

In the mid-19th century, with an area of only one square kilometer, the Old City had become overcrowded and unsanitary, with rental prices on a constant rise.[1] In the mid-1850s, following the Crimean War, institutions including the Russian Compound, Kerem Avraham, the Schneller Orphanage, Bishop Gobat school and the Mishkenot Sha'ananim compound, marked the beginning of permanent settlement outside Jerusalem's Old City walls.[1][2]

  1. ^ a b Glass, Joseph B.; Kark, Ruth (2007). Sephardi entrepreneurs in Jerusalem: the Valero family 1800-1948. Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House. p. 174. ISBN 9789652293961. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  2. ^ Kark, Ruth; Oren-Nordheim, Michal (2001). Jerusalem and Its Environs: Quarters, Neighborhoods, Villages, 1800-1948. Israel studies in historical geography. Wayne State University Press. pp. 74, table on p.82-86. ISBN 9780814329092. Retrieved 23 August 2021. The beginning of construction outside the Jerusalem Old City in the mid-19th century was linked to the changing relations between the Ottoman government and the European powers. After the Crimean War, various rights and privileges were extended to non-Muslims who now enjoyed greater tolerance and more security of life and property. All of this directly influenced the expansion of Jerusalem beyond the city walls. From the mid-1850s to the early 1860s, several new buildings rose outside the walls, among them the mission house of the English consul, James Finn, in what came to be known as Abraham's Vineyard (Kerem Avraham), the Protestant school built by Bishop Samuel Gobat on Mount Zion; the Russian Compound; the Mishkenot Sha'ananim houses; and the Schneller Orphanage complex. These complexes were all built by foreigners, with funds from abroad, as semi-autonomous compounds encompassed by walls and with gates that were closed at night. Their appearance was European, and they stood out against the Middle-Eastern-style buildings of Palestine.