Ancient Jerusalem fortress comes alive in new show

COMPELLING COMPOUND | Tower of David's sprawling museum complex gives great view into city's past

JERUSALEM -- The Tower of David isn't Jerusalem's most celebrated, sacred or coveted site, but perhaps no place better illustrates the city's contentious history: Over the millennia, myriad conquerors have used it as a fortress, military barracks and cannon emplacement.

These days, the Tower serves a more benign purpose. Tucked inside the walls of the picturesque Old City, the compound is now a museum that welcomes tens of thousands of visitors each year.

Though overshadowed by its world-famous neighbors -- the Western Wall, Dome of the Rock and Church of the Holy Sepulcher -- the sprawling complex is worth a visit for the perfect snapshot it provides of the city's past. Visitors can walk alongside layers of walls, some dating back more than 2,000 years, peek into ancient cisterns and bask in the shadows of Crusader arches.

The tower's ancient walls come alive, quite literally, in the museum's latest exhibit, a nighttime sound and light show that takes its audience on a stirring open-air tour of Jerusalem's history.

The "Night Spectacular" has no narration and is not meant to be a comprehensive history lesson. Instead, viewers are treated to a colorful series of moving images that turn the massive walls, arches, towers, turrets and archaeological ruins into lifelike depictions of events that took place over the millennia, often just steps away.

The show opens with a massive silhouette of the Biblical King David strumming on a harp. There are scenes of King Solomon's Temple and its destruction, early Christian monks, the Prophet Muhammad's night journey to heaven, a mystic event recounted in the Quran.

The 45-minute show makes no mention of the modern conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, skipping from the times of British rule early in the 20th century to a hopeful scene of children, surrounded by doves, singing for peace.

The show does not strive to provide a full history of Jerusalem -- visitors can get that during the daytime, when the many exhibits are open, said Shosh Yaniv, the museum's director. And there is no explicit political message, she said. The show tries to recognize the Jewish, Muslim and Christian attachment to the city.

The show might be worth catching just for its nifty special effects, and for its soundtrack, written by French composer Etienne Perruchon and recorded by a full orchestra.

The fortress was begun more than 2,000 years ago by the Jewish kings of the Hasmonean period and was developed by King Herod, who ruled the city for three decades in the first century B.C. Herod, known for grandiose building projects in the Holy Land, including the Second Temple, added three massive towers to the site. One of the towers remains today, given visitors a sweeping vista of the Old City.

Over the centuries, the area served as barracks for Roman troops, housed a community of monks and was revived as a fortress by Muslim conquerors. The citadel underwent further changes during the 400 years of Ottoman rule that began in the 1500s.

One of the few famous rulers of the Holy Land missing from the tower's illustrious resume is, ironically, King David. The biblical monarch had nothing to do with the fortress, which was only begun around 1,000 years after his legendary reign.

According to the museum, he became associated with it only in the 19th century, when Western pilgrims mistakenly identified the minaret as the "Tower of David." The evocative but incorrect title has stuck ever since.

AP