05/07/2022
This. In the land of Quds.
When we decided to embark on this journey, and I would call it the journey of a lifetime because if you know the political air of Israel you will know that it is not easy to get access to this worldly place. One can reach as close as to the edge and asked not to enter citing no apparent reason. With all possibilities in mind, I made sure that I thoroughly understood and learned about the place ; the history, the politics, the architecture, the many many battles engulfed in power, religion, romance and greed. I made sure that I would be walking into a familiar place where I would recognize the Herodus stones, mosaics that resemble Byzantine churches, Romanesque arches, the bloody remains of Crusader conquest, architectural imprints spanning various periods. With our visa thankfully not rejected, we began our travel from Amman to Jerusalem by road to the third holiest site of Islam and the first Qibla ( prayer direction ). Nothing prepares you for the sight that you are about to encounter, it’s a mixed emotion where on one side there are these massive columns, arches and walls and on the other side, they are visibly decorated with bullet marks. No photographs can capture the life of this rich landscape, no words can describe the warmth and love of the wonderful,selfless people I had the fortune to meet and engage with. This is exactly why I consider architecture to be multi dimensional ; the people, the culture, the landscapes, the engineering and a purpose that ties all of it together. There is a window to every phenomenal building and it has to be found, opened and pondered upon. Every monument is a story, a sequence of events , of tragedy and celebration, of theft and offerings, of death and life. Born out of ashes, Aqasa and her side by Jewel stands tall with all their glory and magnificence.
