Visit to the Ecole Biblique

Today was one of those days that makes me thankful that I live in Israel. As I’ve thought many times, the opportunities here are wonderful. I was invited by the prior of Ecole Biblique to visit the campus, see the photo archive, and have lunch. This invitation arose because of his familiarity with the Survey of Western Palestine Maps CD that I recently finished (as I somewhat expected, there are about 3 people in the world interested in them, but all 3 are people I would like to get to know!).

Finally, then, I was able to see the famous Ecole Biblique library. Yes, this is the same library that sells a CD for $250 of their card catalogue! I was not disappointed. Though I spent only about 20 minutes there, I saw works I have dreamed about seeing for years (including, I’ll tell you so you see what a geek I am, Salzmann’s Photos, Wilson’s Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, and Pierotti’s Jerusalem, vol. 2: plates). All are amazing, and I wish available. I wouldn’t mind doing something about that, if I had the chance. [Since two of the three readers of this blog probably won’t understand what those books are – very briefly, all contain photos or illustrations of Jerusalem in the 1850s-60s – very early stuff!]

Anyway, I spent some time in the archive, looking at Fr. Tarragon’s work. There are about 15,000 glass slides, up to about 8×10 in size (that means very old!). He has scanned the majority of those and showed me some. Very neat stuff! For instance, there was a photo of En Rogel with water around it! And another photo from the roof of the Ecole Biblique when there was nothing between it and the Damascus Gate. And tons more. It was fun to compare notes and to see how he is going about the digitizing process.

In addition, Jerome Murphy-O’Connor joined us for lunch. That was a treat, as I’ve used his Holy Land guide for many years, but have never met him. His work is universally regarded as the best archaeological guide to Israel. Indeed, I felt very small. I’ve been in Israel ten years, but have too little to show for it. I want to study!

I did pick a bad day to visit, however. Today was “Memorial Day” in Israel, which actually means something in this country. Many people go to memorial services, entertainment places are closed, and there is a siren at 8pm (last night) and 11am today, where the whole country stops and stands. I was on the freeway into the city at the time when everyone stopped their cars and got out and stood. I think that was my first time to be “out and about” when the siren sounded. This evening Yom HaAtzmaut started, which is Independence Day. Like its counterpart in the US on July 4, it’s a day of barbecues. I have something else interesting planned tomorrow, however. :-)