Discovering the Jerusalem Tile Project

Last week I promised a very special thread. Well here it is…. If you take a walk down the stone / cobbled section of Agrippas Street towards King George Street in Jerusalem, you will find this fun, beautiful project. In the image above, we see a beautiful mosaic. Next to it is a plaque.

Let’s take a closer look at the wording on the plaque and find out what this is all about.

This Mosaic is part of The Jerusalem Tile Project. As you can see on the bottom of the plaque, this project is established by the Municipality of Jerusalem along with a few other organizations. The plaque is in Hebrew, Arabic and English.

The English reads:

Many houses in Jerusalem conceal true works of art – the decorated floor tiles. The magical style originates in Europe, and was developed in our region in the beginning of the 20th century. Local factories manufactured quality tiles in a manual process which has nowadays almost entirely disappeared.

The work in front of you is comprised of various tile patterns from the floors of private homes around the city. The people of Jerusalem are invited to share with us pictures of the decorated floor in their house. We reproduced them based on the pictured, and assembled them into composite creations. Like the human variety of Jerusalem, so do the tiles come together in a complex and special story. Love is out there!

>>And how about you? The project continues and everyone is welcome to join – take a photo of the hidden tiles in your house or any other place, share with us, and we will make it a part of the next creation. >> tile.muslala@gmail.com

Wow! Isn’t that just so special?

Take a look at these tile composites. Lovely, don’t you think?

You also get the opportunity to practice your Hebrew, or Arabic or to make sure that your understanding is up to scratch by reading the plaque in the languages provided.

Do you have a favourite one?

Did you know that the houses in Jerusalem hide such beautiful art?

It makes it so much fun to walk around in Jerusalem. One never knows where the next spot of beauty will pop up.

Have a wonderful week. And let us know your thoughts of this lovely project.

This post is prepared for you by

Shoshanah Shear

Occupational Therapist, healing facilitator,
certified infant massage instructor, freelance writer, author of “Healing Your Life Through Activity – An Occupational Therapist’s Story” and co-author of “Tuvia Finds His Freedom“.

Photographs by Shoshanah Shear