Extended discussion (with drawings of post seismic destruction) of Voldrich Prefat's observations
Voldrich Prefat described seismic damage to some of the buildings he encountered and included some drawings in his
book which allow one to better assess the extent of seismic damage due to the earthquake. In Chapter 23 of
Prefat (1546:126), he produced a drawing by the Venetian artist Dominik de la Greche of the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem which showed that the dome of the belltower was missing - due to the earthquake.
Apparently, de la Greche had also drawn this scene before the earthquake which allows for the before and after comparison below.
Ambraseys and Karcz (1992:258) provided a translation for the caption of the image to the right
This is the correct and true picture of the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, with its square, seen from
the south side, as it was in the year 1546, drawn by Master
Dominik de le Greche, Venetian painter, in the year
46, and now printed under the care of Woldrich Prefat.
In Chapter 22 of
Prefat (1546:122) we can read some more details about the damaged belltower
English from Prefat (1546)
On the left side of the same square [in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre], facing the church door,
opposite the east side, there is a rather large and tall square tower
attached to the church, nicely built of hewn stucco stone with many
windows. Here, as they told us, that three years before we were there,
before the Three Kings,
there was a great earthquake in the city of
Jerusalem, and with that earthquake the top or roof of that tower
collapsed, which they say (how can we know then) that it was all
vaulted up to the top and battered with lead sheets, a good chunk of
the tower at the top also collapsed. And so today it stands demolished
and no one is repairing it.
Czech from Prefat (1546)
Na levé pak straně téhož placu, stoje obličejem proti dveřuom
kostelním, proti vejchodní straně jest věž přistavená k kostelu dosti
veliká a vysoká čtverhraná, pěkně stavená z tesaného kamene
štukového s mnoha okny. Tu, jak nám pravili, že tři léta předtím,
než jsme my tam byli, před Třemi králi bylo velké zemětřesení
v městě Jeruzalémě a tím zemětřesením ssul se vrch neb krov té
věže, který praví (jak pak i znáti), že byl všechen klenutý až do
vrchu a na to plechy olověnnými pobitý, též se zbořil i dobrý kus té
věže nahoře. A tak podnes zbořená stojí a žádný toho neopravuje.
In Chapter 42 of
Prefat (1546:204), Prefat produced a drawing by de la Greche of the city of Jerusalem in the summer of 1546 CE (after the earthquake)
which showed a largely intact city and the missing belltower at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (marked by a red arrow).
Drawing of Jerusalem by de la Greche in the summer of 1546 CE as seen from the east. Red arrow points to the missing bell tower of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Ambraseys and Karcz (1992:259-260) summarized Prefat's descriptions of other ruined buildings for which they say
he [did] not give the cause of their destruction
.
- In Ramla he notices several small chapels badly damaged and says that parts of the town walls were always ruined.
- On the way from Ramla to Jaffa he saw a church with the upper part of its belfry destroyed.
- Near Ramla he found the remains of a monastery that had also been destroyed.
- On the road from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, on a hill, there was a tower, the upper part of which was heavily damaged.
- Near Bethlehem he saw a chapel that had collapsed completely; however, a church in a nearby field was not damaged.
- Between Bethlehem and Bet Jala he found another church that had collapsed, but its tower was still standing.
- Near Battir, a small half-ruined town, he found a chapel near a cave that had collapsed.
- On his return from Bethlehem, near the place where John the Baptist was born, he saw a church that was partly ruined, as well as another church and a monastery nearby that had suffered considerable damage.
- Also a square tower and a few houses in Bethany were heavily damaged.
- On the "Olivet hill(?)" Mount of Olives?) he found the remains of a church and a monastery, with some walls still standing.
- Jericho was in ruins and the church, allegedly built by St Helen, damaged.
- On the way from the Dead Sea to Jericho, on a hill on the left-hand side of the road, he saw another church, which he says was that of St John the Baptist, which was damaged.
- On traveling from Bethlehem to Hebron he noticed another small church, a part of which had collapsed.
- Hebron and Jaffa, he says, were in ruins, but this he attributes to the Egyptians and to the recent wars.
Some fuller descriptions from
Prefat (1546) can be read in the collapsible panel below:
Descriptions of Damaged Buildings in Palestine by Voldrich Prefat z Vlkanova
Bethlehem
In Chapter 32 of
Prefat (1546:166) we can read the following:
English
From there we turned back again towards Bethlehem; and there,
about as far as he could shoot with a handgun, opposite the entrance
from him is a small, vaulted chapel, a piece of the front of which has
also been demolished, and a lot of rum and stones in it. It collapsed, as
they say, from the earthquake that was there, from which also the vault
of the church of St. Jerome collapsed
Czech
Odtud jsme se obrátili nazpátek zase proti Betlému; a tu asi co by
mohl dostřeliti z ručnice, od něho proti vejchodu jest kaplice malá,
klenutá, kteréž předku kus též i zadku zbořeno, rumu a kamení v ní
mnoho. To se zbořilo, jakž praví, od zemětřesení, kteréž tam bylo,
od kteréhož se též zsulo klenutí kostela svatého Jeronýma.
In Chapter 33 of
Prefat (1546:168) we can read the following:
English
Also by that church, in the same close and monastery, there was
another church against the midnight side, vaulted and quite large, but
the earthquake (as they told us) demolished it, that the cellar and
vaulting all fell; it still stands with columns and pieces of arches, walls
broken down, rum and stones in a heap.
And he praised the church of St. Jerome; so much so that the
earthquake destroyed some of the buildings where the [brothers of Munich?] s lived,
also a piece of the refectory where they ate, and the cloister was also
badly destroyed. The rest of the same monastery still stands in the
church in which there are the 32 columns.
Czech
Též byl při tom kostele v témž zavřetí a klášteře jiný kostel proti
puolnoční straně, klenutý a dosti veliký, ale zemětřesení (jakž nám
pravili) zbořilo jej, že sklep a klenutí všecko padlo; ještě ho stojí
slaupy a kusy klenutí, zdi zbořené, rum a kamení na hromadě.
A slaul kostel svatého Jeronýma; tolikéž tím zemětřesením sic
nětco stavení se pobořilo, kde byli příbytkové mnichuov, též kus
refectorium, kde jídali, také ambitu se drahně pobořilo. Ostatek
téhož kláštera ještě stojí v kostele tom, v kterým jest těch 32 slaupů.
