Replicas of the Jewish Temple are scale models or authentic buildings that attempt to replicate either theTemple of Solomon or theSecond Temple (Herod's Temple) inJerusalem.
Sources for the description of the Temple are found primarily in the works ofJosephus, tractateMiddot and theTemple Scroll; however, these sources are not consistent.[1]
In the seventeenth century, RabbiJacob Judah Leon of Amsterdam (1602–1675) built a widely exhibited model of the Temple based on his understanding of the biblical specifications.[2]
Another notable model was constructed by Gerhard Schott (1641–1702), follows an interpretation made by the Spanish JesuitJuan Bautista Villalpando. Schott's model, known as theHamburg temple model, is still displayed in theMuseum for Hamburg History.[3]
Conrad Schick constructed a series of replicas of the Jewish Temple. His replica of the BiblicalTabernacle was visited in Jerusalem by several crowned heads of state, toured the United Kingdom, and was exhibited at the 1873 Vienna World's Fair. It was purchased by theKing of Württemberg, who awarded Schick a knighthood in recognition of his work. Schick built a replica of the contemporaryTemple Mount andDome of the Rock for the Ottoman Sultan. His final model, in four sections, each representing the Temple Mount as it appeared in a particular era, was exhibited at the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904.[4][5]
A scale model existed at theChachmei Lublin Yeshiva, but was destroyed during World War II. Two of Schick's models are located in the basement of the Schmidt school for girls in east Jerusalem, near theDamascus Gate.[citation needed]
Another of Schick's models is at theBijbels Museum ("Biblical Museum") inAmsterdam.
TheIsrael Museum in Jerusalem houses theHolyland Model of Jerusalem, a model of Jerusalem in the Late 2nd Temple Period originally constructed by archeologistMichael Avi-Yonah at the Holyland hotel.
In 2009, Jews in theIsraeli settlement ofMitzpe Yeriho in the West Bank began building a life-size replica of the Temple of Jerusalem.[10]
In 2010 theUniversal Church of the Kingdom of God started the construction of areplica of Solomon's temple in São Paulo, Brazil. According to local press reports, the building would be an "exact replica" of the ancient Temple of Solomon,[11] but with increased dimensions, despite resembling considerably moreHerod's Temple.[citation needed] The temple was inaugurated in July 2014. The mega-church seats 10,000 worshipers and stands 180 feet tall, the height of an 18-story building.
Several churches and synagogues have been designed to evoke the Temple. The most famous of them isel Escorial, the royal residence of Spain (1563–1584) by architectJuan Bautista de Toledo under the order ofPhilip II of Spain. The central axis reveals a pattern of an courtyard, a sanctuary, and the Holy of Holies.[13]
TheOld Whalers Church in Sag Harbor, New York was built in 1844 by architectMinard Lafever as a replica of the Temple.[14][15]
The 1906 building ofTemple Israel in Boston was intended to be a replica of the Temple.[16] TheChurch of St. Polyeuctus inConstantinople was built with the precise proportions given in the Bible for the Temple.[17]
The 1909 building of theHerzliya Hebrew Gymnasium inTel Aviv, designed byJoseph Barsky, was intended to evoke the Temple following a widely-circulated reconstruction of the temple byCharles Chipiez.[18]
A handful oftemples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are evocations of the Temple. TheCardston Alberta Temple,Laie Hawaii Temple, andMesa Arizona Temple are all designed after the style ofHerod's Temple.[19] Others, such as theSalt Lake Temple pay more indirectly homage, by orienting towards Jerusalem and having a large basin used as a baptismal font is mounted on the backs of twelve oxen, as was theMolten Sea of the Temple.[20]
Masonic Temples inFreemasonry bear a similar symbolism. Solomon's Temple is a central symbol in Freemasonry, which holds that the first three Grand Masters wereSolomon,Hiram I ofPhoenicia, andHiram Abiff, the fictitious craftsman and architect who built the temple. Masonic initiation rites include the reenactment of a scene set on the Temple Mount while it was under construction. EveryMasonic lodge, therefore, is symbolically the Temple for the duration of the degree, and possesses ritual objects representing the architecture of the Temple. These may either be built into the hall or be portable. Among the most prominent are replicas of the pillarsBoaz and Jachin through which every initiate has to pass.[21]
During and after the Christian conquest of Jerusalem, theDome of the Rock was renamed theTemplum Domini. The nearbyal-Aqsa Mosque was renamed the "Temple of Solomon", the latter of which was where theKnights Templar had their headquarters in Jerusalem. The two buildings were sometimes conflated,[22] and several buildings were designed as replicas of Solomon's Temple in the shape of the Dome of the Rock.
These replicas include the octagonal, fifteenth-centuryChurch of St. Giacomo in Italy, and the octagonal, nineteenth-centuryMoorish Revival styleRumbach Street Synagogue in thePest section ofBudapest.[23]
Palestine Park on the grounds ofChautauqua Institution inChautauqua, New York has a small replica of the temple, depicted as the Dome of the Rock, part of a living topographical map of theHoly Land, complete with theSea of Galilee, theJordan River, and theDead Sea.Chautauqua Lake stands in for theMediterranean Sea.[24]
In art, both Perugino'sMarriage of the Virgin andRaphael'sThe Marriage of the Virgin both show the Temple as a Renaissance version of the Dome of the Rock.[25]
TheGlencairn Museum inBryn Athyn, Pennsylvania has a replica of the biblicaltabernacle dating from 1922.[26] TheMennonite Information Center inLancaster, Pennsylvania had a replica dating from the 1940s.[27][28]
TheMishkan Shiloh synagogue inShilo, Mateh Binyamin is designed as a replica of the Tabernacle.[29]
In Israel,Timna Valley Park and KibbutzAlmog feature full-scale replicas.[30][31]
Accordingly, such studies have usually attempted to establish a correspondence between Josephus' accounts and the Temple plan found in tractate Middot of the Mishnah. It has generally been assumed that some form of harmonization of the data in these two sources would yield a reasonable reconstruction of the architectural plan and appearance of what is generally termed the Herodian Temple-- the Temple as rebuilt by King Herod (38-4 B.C.E.)… Josephus presents three descriptions of the Jerusalem Temple. In Antiquities 8, he describes the Temple as it was built by Solomon. Scholars have suggested that Josephus was influenced in this description by the nature of the Temple as it stood in his own day. In narrating the life of King Herod in Antiquities 15, Josephus describes the Temple which Herod built. Finally, in War 5 Josephus describes the Temple within the context of the description of Jerusalem on the eve of the Roman conquest. In addition, various minor comments regarding the Temple structure which appear scattered throughout the writings of Josephus will be dealt with in notes… The Temple plan found in the Temple Scroll is set out in one of the sources of the Temple Scroll. Probably dating to the early Hasmonean period or to earlier in the Hellenistic period, this plan is spelled out in great detail with exacting dimensions. I t was created based on some form of exegesis of the Tabernacle texts in the Pentateuch as well as the descriptions of the Temple in Exodus, Kings and Chronicles with some literary dependence on the Temple plan of Ezekiel as well. In this context, we should note that Josephus' description of the Solomonic Temple was no doubt to a great extent the product of biblical interpretation on his part… The descriptions of the Jerusalem Temple presented by Josephus and the Temple Scroll share very little beyond basic details which they derived from the biblical material pertaining to the Solomonic Temple. The structure of courtyards, the surrounding chambers, and the facades described are quite different… Josephus' plan for the Solomonic Temple resulted from biblical interpretation with only minimal influence from the existing Temple of his day.
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