Christ Church er den eldste protestantiske kyrkja i Jerusalem, bygd i 1849. Kyrkja ligg i Gamlebyen, like innanfor Jaffaporten. Her er det i dag ein engelskspråkleg internasjonal kyrkjelyd som har gudstenester på søndagane og ei hebraiskspråkleg messiansk jødisk forsamling som har gudstenester på laurdagane. Men kyrkja har ei lang og viktig historie, og denne veka har den israelske avisa Haaretz ei interessant artikkel om arkivet i kyrkja:
Tucked away in Jerusalem’s Old City, between the entrance to the David Street market and the Armenian Quarter is one of Jerusalem’s unsung treasures – a small room chock full of books, letters and documents in the historic Christ Church complex. Many of the documents are hand-written in the flowery style of the 19th century or earlier, written by Europeans, particularly the British, who lived and worked here. Coming to the documents’ hopeful rescue is a recently initiated project that applies a combination of cutting edge technology and devotion to history to set them on their way toward digitalization as a means of preserving the stories they tell for future generations.
“Every time I turn a page or unfold an old letter, it’s like opening a window into 19th century Palestine, a window that not many people have been able to look into,” Niek Arentsen, a theologian and the volunteer librarian says of his work for the past two years. (les meir)
