Representations of Jerusalem: from Ottoman to Hashemite

The struggle for sovereignty and control over the Holy City of Jerusalem traditionally has been studied from the perspective of war and conquest throughout all historical periods. The modern period has brought a new arena in which possession of a city so holy can be expressed: visual display. Advances in technology have brought new ways of depicting Jerusalem, whether in exhibition halls or printed images, two mediums examined in this article. The late Ottoman period in Jerusalem as well as Heshemite rule over the city and its holy places offer great similarities for historical and comparative expression of holy sites in national and state-defined contexts. The battlefield marks the place where those with access to the territory can engage in violent struggle for control; the visual realm does not require actual possession of territory in order to promote identification and sovereignty. Whereas acceptance of the right to control territory is based on the level of international recognition, the right to portray sites as part of the national message is more difficult to question. The visual message is only determined by the extent to which the viewer accepts the intended message conveyed in the image, ann impression nearly impossible to easure.