The Reintroduction of Bell Ringing in Late Ottoman Jerusalem

ABSTRACT: After the Crusader period, the use of church bells in Jerusalem was forbidden for centuries. The religious soundscape of the Holy City was dominated by the adhan , the Islamic call to prayer. Local Christian communities struck the semantron , usually an elongated piece of wood that had been employed since Late Antiquity. This article looks at the reintroduction of bell ringing in the holiest city of Christianity during the last decades of Ottoman rule. While the Christian practice had been tolerated in a few locations such as Mount Athos and the Cyclades, its use was only allowed across the Ottoman dominions during the Tanzimat period. Through a combination of written sources and instances of material culture (bells and bell towers) I trace the reintroduction of bell ringing in Jerusalem and its expansion throughout the city from the mid-nineteenth century onwards.