We promised to report on our new: “Jerusalem – The Temple Mount – A Carta Guide Book”. Incredibly, this is the first true guide book to the Temple Mount to be published since 1925, when the Supreme Muslim Council published their 12-page Brief Guide to al-Haram al-Sharif. In 2006 we published The Quest, Revealing the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This is an academic work, but written and illustrated in such a way as to be accessible to scholars and laymen alike, detailing every nook and cranny of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Our new guide book is completely different from The Quest. It has many new evocative reconstructive illustrations and is designed to help visitors understand what they are looking at, but is also invaluable for the person who cannot visit the Temple Mount in the flesh, but whose spirit is very much there.
In the Preface we wrote:
It is the authors’ sincere hope that this profusely illustrated guide book to the Temple Mount will help you to fully savor the experience of visiting a site that is truly without parallel and be embraced by its aura of power and sanctity. It is the culmination of years of academic work distilled into a user-friendly manual whose aim is to make the dry facts and stones come alive. If it can help you make this complex site more accessible and find your own personal spots for reflection, it will have fulfilled our vision. Each of the six distinct areas connected to the Temple Mount is preceded by a “Useful Information” section. Each route has its own detailed tour map. Of course, the tours can be done in whatever order you choose to do them in, including or omitting as you like.
1. The Western Wall – Experience the Wall at the heart of Jerusalem (blue)
2. The Western Wall Tunnels – Follow the wall hidden in darkness (red)
3. Jerusalem Archaeological Park – Walk in the Park around the Southern Wall (brown)
4. The Eastern Wall – Deciphering the Puzzle of the Oldest of the Temple Mount Walls (green)
5. The Northern wall – Discovering the Hidden Wall (purple)
6. Going up to the Mountain of the House of the Lord (white)
The specialised maps at the end of the book provide additional information if you wish to focus on a particular aspect of the Temple Mount. One unique never-before-published map gives New Testament references that will allow you to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and his disciples around the Temple. The plan of the cisterns and underground structures will give you an idea of the magnitude of the vast world that lies beneath the Temple platform. The map of the Islamic structures will acquaint you with the gems of Muslim architecture all over the platform.
Many pages have sidebars containing fascinating tidbits of information on topics such as “Who was Melchizedek”, “What did the Queen of Sheba see?”, “What is the difference between a Menorah and a Hanukkiah?“, “What happens to the prayer notes left in the Western Wall?”? etc.
The book was due to have been published this month but is being delayed by the lack of tourists in Israel at the moment. Ironically, the fact that visitors are being deterred by the present situation and that when they do come, visiting hours are so restricted, makes the sort of virtual tour facilitated by this guide book all the more valuable.
As we wrote in our previous post, you can expedite the book’s speedy publication by using the online Contact Form to express interest to Carta.
Hi dear Leen,
CONGRATULATIONS for your work.It will be great and worth reading!!
I wrote to CARTA. Hopefully the see in your book a great Chance for a new Bestseller!
My comment to CARTA
Please print this book! It will become a Bestseller! Hopefully the tourists will come back and then this guide will be “a must have!!”
Great, that you will publish this! “The Quest” is great but such a short guide will be welcomed by all the People, who come to Jerusalem! Best wishes for this Project! Alexander Schick
Alex,
Thanks for writing to Carta. We were told that those who wrote will be contacted and possibly be offered a special pre-publication discount!
I’m very excited to purchase this once Carta starts publication. Any idea how soon it might be added into the Accordance software as a new module?
Thank you so much for your work!
Peter,
After the book has been printed it will, I hope, be averrable on Accordance as well.
Hi Leen, we last talked at the Maqatir dig. I wrote to Carta and let them know that we would like to adopt this guide book for classroom use by our students who will be traveling to Israel. Thanks.
Chris
Chris,
Thank you so much. This is very helpful.
Thanks Leen for your report.
We have contacted Carta and let them know the readers of the Bible Magazine will be interested in “Jerusalem – The Temple Mount – A Carta Guide Book”.
Thanks Sally, hope they will publish soon. They say that there are not enough tourists because of the troubles in Jerusalem and are waiting for tourism to pick up again.
Dear Mr.Leen
Is it possible for me in Indonesia to buy that book?Thanks
Johanes,
That would be possible once the book is published.
אנחנו רוצים את העבודה שלך באידיש
האם לכרטא זכויות יוצרים גם על אידיש?
.אני לא יודע על אידיש, יתר חשוב לתרגם את הספרים שלנו לֵעברית
Congrats on your book finally being released. As an author (just boring technical stuff), I can appreciate the frustration of having to have to wait so long for its release.
I just listened to your interview with Eva Harrow. The book sounds great! My wife and I are traveling to the Holy Land in mid-May. Any chance your book will be available as an e-book before we leave?
Rick,
Thanks. I don’t think that the book will be available soon as an e-book. It depends on what the publisher has in mind.