Once upon a time in Jerusalem-
Sergei’s Yard in the Russian compound, 1916.
Sergei’s Yard in the picture is a building and part of the Russian Lot complex in the center of Jerusalem.
The building was inaugurated in 1890 and named after Prince Sergei.
The dedication of the building was also attended by the Emperor of Russia Alexander III who visited the country at the same time on the occasion of the dedication of the Church of Mary Magdalene (the same one from the song) on the Mount of Olives.
Sergei’s yard was used as a hostel for the aristocratic Russian pilgrims who came to the Holy Land, and at the same time the Alexander complex was also built to the north.
The buildings were built in the Baroque style by the Nazareth-born architect Alexey Giorgi Frangia, and on Easter 1914 exactly 110 years ago, approximately 14,000 Russian pilgrims visited Jerusalem, (some of them probably wearing sweatpants, sweaters, leather shoes and waist pouches), and this was the last time such a number of Russian pilgrims were seen in the city.
A few months later, the First World War broke out, and in the February revolution of 1917, the tsar and his family members were executed, and following the rise of communist rule and the transformation of Russia into the Soviet Union, the flow of pilgrims stopped almost completely.
After the establishment of the state of Israel, the Russian Lot complex – the police station, the detention center, and the court were leased to the state, and the Sergei yard was used by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Since then, a long negotiation that lasted for years began to settle the ownership of the complex, the heirs of Prince Sergey demanded the settlement of ownership on the spot, and the general guardian managed the building and the complex.
Since then the complex has gone through many different legal incarnations.
At the beginning of 2009, part of the complex was transferred to the ownership of the Russian government, and in March 2011, the Russian government set a condition of evacuating the Ministry of Agriculture from the building as a condition for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Moscow.
The building is evacuated immediately – within one day.
In July 2017, the complex was rededicated after being renovated under the new ownership.
This is our Jerusalem- pilgrims next to holy places, legal battles and international interests
Beheadings and traveler’s hostels.
And maybe it’s good that Sergei’s yard was returned to the Russian government, and an invasion of Putin and the Russian army into the city was prevented to liberate the compound with dozens of anti-aircraft guns and indiscriminate bombings, which could have caused the closing of the Ben-Yehuda Street, and the creation of a traffic jam near the nearby Borks Musa, (cheese or spinach, pickles, tahini and egg).
May we get to see quiet days and a boring routine.
Shabbat of peace to the far and near from Yerushalim .
Photo: Courtesy of Pavel Platonov
