A museum for Jewish prayer in a Mamluk bathhouse – the Ohel Yitzhak Synagogue

The Ohel Yitzhak Synagogue, located in the Muslim Quarter, was restored by funds of Ervin Moskowitz, a donor who supported a group called ‘Ateret Cohanim’ that settles Jews there. Under the Synagogue a well-preserved Mamluk period bathhouse was discovered by the IAA. The entrepreneur declared the intention to open here a museum for the archaeology of Jerusalem. This tempted the IAA to deepen the excavations and to extend them eastward to a large vaulted hall – outside the borders of the building plan and under private Palestinian houses. In 2008 the Western Wall Foundation Heritage stepped in, funding the breaching of tunnels that run under the Muslim Quarter to the Western Wall Tunnels. The tunnelling was made without building permits and excavation licences, although the Antiquities Law stipulates that every archaeological excavation needs a license. Meantime, the façade of the Mamluk bathhouse was damaged according to the wishes of the entrepreneurs, who care only for ‘our’ remains. The plan for an archaeological museum was aborted in favour of a museum for Jewish Prayer, which was soon cancelled too. The entrepreneur’s plans bear no relation to the archaeology of the place.