On your walls, City of David
The people at the City of David sat and thought of ways to challenge the visitors. The result has been a dramatized nighttime tour that brings you back 3,000 years in time, to the beginning of the days of Biblical Jerusalem. King David also comes to visit
Thus we were able to experience a nighttime tour at the City of David, one of the more important archaeological sites in Jerusalem. The tour passes through a number of stations, and despite the fact that many of them take place in the water system under ground, the tour first allows participants the opportunity to look out on the urban scenery of the Old City.
The beating of the drums in our ears
On the balcony of the City of David, tour guide Hillel Mali tells us about the idea behind the new tour: “Usually a group walks between the different attractions, and simultaneously listens to a story. In this case, we try to give over historical and archaeological information that will create among the participants a much greater experiential feeling, through a combination of music and games - the music is the words, and the theater is also the explanation”.
A moment before we leave on the tour Hillel tells us about the Gichon Spring that gurgles beneath us, and of its importance to the city of Jerusalem. However, the explanation is short. The Jerusalem chill, which reminded our bones about winter, quickly chases us into the darkness. We slowly walk through the dark and chilly tunnels until the grottoes.
Hillel, with a voice full of passion, reveals a slice of history to us, reads a poem and plays a flute. Next to him stands a group of trusty musicians, who conclude parts of his explanations with music and songs. When the music stopped, we could hear the beating of the ancient workers, who beat the stone thousands of years ago and quarried the water tunnels. The acoustics in the tunnel and the lighting that pierces the darkness of the depths provides an experience for the eyes, and especially the ears.
King David lives
At the entrance to one of the tunnels, an actor dressed as King David surprised us. “Follow me”, the character pleaded with us, “but very quietly”. In the cave, which is part of the tunnel that leads to the Gichon Spring, the actor (Dan Sudri) performed a scene from David’s life - the scene where he hides from Shaul’s men who were looking to kill him.
The yellow light flickered on David’s face, the tunnel walls returned his whispers, and we felt as if we could hear the footsteps of the enemy on the other side of the wall.
From there, Hillel led us to the fortifications of the Gichon Spring, and then to the spring itself. The noise of the water forced Hillel to raise his voice. With great enthusiasm he explained to us how the discoveries in the underground water system continually succeed in surprising the archaeologists.
“This place gives so much”, Hillel says after we were released from the chains of history and burst out to the outside world. “There is a gap between what people want to hear and what they actually receive. Therefore we try to explain what happened through games and music, and not just with words”.
In the end, you can say that the tour was musically impressive and interesting in its originality. We felt that some historical information was missing. We thought that the avoidance of giving too many historical or archaeological details, maybe to prevent boredom, was exaggerated. But maybe that was just us.
Tips for the tour
The visitor’s center of Ir David - Kfar Shiloach, Jerusalem (near the Western Wall). For more details: *6033 from any telephone in Israel.
Admission to the site is NIS 27. After Pesach the dramatized tour activities will begin, it will be every Thursday night, and will burn a larger hole in your pocket – NIS 100 per person.
