Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem By Captain Charles W. Wilson R.E. Under The Direction of Colonel Sir Henry James, R.E. F.R.S. & C. Director of the Ordnance Survey. 1864-5.

Description

One of the finest Victorian survey maps ever created. Unusual edition published in New York.

The 1864-65 ordnance survey of Jerusalem and its surroundings, conducted by the British Army’s Corps of Royal Engineers, was the first truly scientific mapping of the greater Jerusalem area. The survey produced this detailed architectural plan of the Old City and its immediate surroundings, compiled at a scale of 1:2,500. The map was originally published as a supplement to the official Ordnance Survey report issued by Her Majesty’s Treasury in 1865.

Historical Context

The Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem was conducted over nine months between 1864 and 1865. It was the first time that a formal British Ordnance Survey was undertaken outside of the United Kingdom, and it also constituted the first scientific mapping of Ottoman Jerusalem and its environs. While it would hardly be misleading to ascribe imperial or colonial motives to the undertaking, the primary reason for initiating the survey was to ensure a clean, stable water supply for a city increasingly attracting European visitors – whether pilgrims, religious immigrants, or Victorian travelers. The survey was conducted by the Royal Engineers, who, over the past decade, had been incorporated into the British Army following the transfer of the Ordnance Survey to the War Department in 1855.

The project was primarily a private initiative, driven by an efficient collaboration among Lord Shaftesbury, Alexander McCaul of the London Jews’ Society, and James Finn, a former British consul in Jerusalem. Together, they formed the Water Relief Fund in 1864 and began lobbying wealthy and influential socialites to fund a group of Royal Engineers to survey the ancient city. A 28-year-old engineer and officer, Charles William Wilson, was appointed to lead a team of six Royal Engineers (all listed on the map). Work began in early October 1864, and the survey was finally completed just under a year later, in June of 1865.

Despite being the survey’s primary objective, the team found no new sources of potable water. It is not entirely clear whether the paucity of new water sources prompted a shift in interest toward more political matters or whether the shift came first. However, what was clear was that by the end of the survey, it had developed entirely different aims than when it started. Instead of the noble goal of supplying pious pilgrims with clean water, the survey now constituted part of an information-gathering exercise that could eventually lead to a more permanent British presence in the Holy Land, and perhaps even a complete takeover, should circumstances allow it.

Despite such imperial ambitions lurking in the background, the survey created the most comprehensive and accurate map of Jerusalem produced to date. Unlike Pierotti, who gained access to the Haram al-Sharif when only Muslims were allowed, the British survey team secured access to the unexplored subterranean features of the Temple Mount. These investigations led to numerous discoveries, including an arch that once had supported a medieval bridge into the Haram al-Sharif complex. This arch can still be seen above the Western (or Wailing) Wall and still carries Wilson’s name. In addition to creating the first scientifically anchored map of Jerusalem and locating these ancient features of profound symbolic importance, the survey was also the first to ascertain the exact distinction between Mediterranean Sea levels and the Dead Sea depression.

In the end, the survey became the primary impetus for founding the Palestine Exploration Fund, which, over the coming decades, would survey and map extensive tracts of the Middle East, in part to search for evidence to verify the Biblical narrative. The PEF first convened in June 1865, only weeks after the survey was completed. At its head stood Charles Wilson. The PEF continues to be a decisive scientific presence in Israel/Palestine today.

The Map in Detail

The map focuses more on features and infrastructure in or immediately connected to the Old City. Built-up areas are rendered in a clean, featureless grey. Jerusalem, at this time, was part of the Ottoman Empire, and privately owned buildings were rarely accessible to British surveyors, preventing individual units from being endowed with any degree of detail. The meticulousness of the British surveyors is nevertheless evident from the careful rendition of publicly accessible landmarks and monuments, which are shown in considerable detail. There are depictions of everything from the city walls and Mamluk fortifications to some of the holiest sites in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Unlike most Victorian maps of Jerusalem, Ordnance Survey maps use local rather than English place names. Thus, al-Aqsa is referred to as a masjid (Arabic for mosque), and the Dome of the Rock is identified by its Arabic name, Khubbat as-Sahkra. The use of local toponyms was largely the achievement of missionary Carl Sandreczki, who supplied the survey team with a general orthography of the city by compiling a long list of place names in local languages. These lists included streets and roads, buildings, and many historical and religious landmarks, all of which the survey team incorporated onto the map.

We note the large compound labeled “Russian Property” northwest of the Old City. This complex was built between 1860 and 1864 by the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society. It had only just been completed as a massive pilgrimage site for Russians when Wilson and his team were surveying this area. That the British looked upon this compound and the strong Russian presence with a combination of awe and concern is reflected in the fact that once the Ottoman Empire collapsed and Palestine came under British Mandate (following World War I), the Russian facilities were quickly converted into the seat of the Mandate administration.

Publication Information and Census

The report of the 1864-65 Ordnance Survey exists in a number of institutional libraries, including the university libraries of London, Glasgow, Göttingen, and Leipzig (OCLC no. 712253661), as well as in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and the National Libraries of Scotland, Denmark (OCLC no. 643578663), and Israel (Call no. L-IAA-ARC-044120).

In 1980, Israeli scholar Dan Bahat issued a facsimile edition of the report, which included all the photographs and plans but not the large-scale maps, which were printed separately.

Examples of the original large-format maps are increasingly difficult to find. Institutional holdings are listed in the National Library of Israel (unverified) and at the Hebrew University on Mt Scopus (System no. 990020177550203701).