A Section from Struggle for Influence of European States in Jerusalem and the Surrounding Area in the Tanzimat Period: Construction Activities of Christian Communities

Jerusalem is considered as a holy city according to three monotheistic religions, and it has known with its holiness; not with its commercial importance or the geopolitical location throughout the history. However, in the XIXth century European states protected the Christian communities, and changed the city’s profile from a religious identity to a political identity, due to their interests on the lands of Ottoman Empire. European states, not only set up their own institutions to the city, but also financed the Christian communities’ activities in Jerusalem and the surrounding area. In this period, England and Prussia, understood the political importance of religious patronage, and entered into intensive activity for set up a Protestant church on the Ottoman lands. This states established the Protestant Bishop of Jerusalem in 1841 and a Protestant church in Jerusalem in 1845. Christian communities started their construction activities by the years Ibrahim Pasha dominated Palestine and increased with the declaration of Tanzimat Edict. In Jerusalem, Christian communities wanted to build new churchs or repair existing ones as a result of the principles brought by the Tanzimat Edict. In this study, in the Tanzimat period, European states’ religious instruction activities with political purposes in Jerusalem and surrounding area; the church building and repair procedures in the Ottoman Empire; and the state’s attitude towards new church building and repairing offers are studied.