Notre Dame of Jerusalem

Our hotel in Jerusalem, the Pontifical Institute Notre Dame Center, has a fascinating history.  In the 1800s larger numbers of tourists started to arrive in Jerusalem, so the French Assumptionist order set about to build a hotel for the pilgrims it brought to the Holy Land.  The location would be just outside the walls of old Jerusalem near the New Gate.   The cornerstone was laid in 1885 and the first tourists arrived in 1888 although construction continued to 1904.  

The building was also a seminary until after World War I.  The hotel was heavily damaged during the 1948 war with the south wing unusable due to the explosion of two bombs.  It was used as an Israeli military outpost while the North side was used by refugees.  It the center the Assumptionists catered to a dwindling number of pilgrims.  

The Holy See (aka the Vatican) took over in 1972 and the site's restoration became a project very close to Pope Paul VI's heart.   Restoration gradually occurred and in 1978 it became a Pontifical Institute.    In 2004, Pope John Paul II entrusted it to the Legionnaires of Christ.



Four popes have visited this hotel.  Can you guess who they were?   I will give you one.  Here is Pope Francis with Prime Minister Netanyahu in 2014, he stayed here during his visit.

Answer to follow in a subsequent post.

Its a very large place, some 400 rooms, three restaurants, a chapel, a gift shop.   It has internet service but no T.V.'s anywhere.

Chapel

Wine & Cheese Rooftop Restaurant

Dining Room

The hotel hosts a permanent exhibit on the Shroud of Turin with a full size replica on exhibit along with the crown of thorns.

Shroud

Jesus