Hospice in Jerusalem.. Austrian hostel, hospital, hotel

In 1855, Austria bought the plot of land on which the "Austrian Inn of the Holy Family" was built, and in 1863 a hostel was opened for Austrian visitors, erected by Emperor Franz Joseph, who ordered its construction and followed by his son Rudolf, and then the visitor traffic was active before it stopped with the outbreak of the first World War in 1914.

During the Second World War Britain used the inn as an internment camp for Austrian, German and Italian priests. In 1948, the British Ministry of Health decided to turn the hostel into a military hospital, but in the same year it turned into a civilian hospital after the kingdom of Jordan took over the administration of East Jerusalem, and Austrian nuns contributed to taking care of the patients, and the hostel was then known as "hospice".

The hostel remained the only hospital within the walls of Jerusalem until 1985, when it was returned to Austria again, so it was decided to close it for restoration and reopened to resume its role as a tourist hotel receiving guests from all over the world.

The building consists of four floors with forty rooms overlooking the Old Town and its holy places, in addition to the Austrian church and the Austrian Cultural Center. As soon as the visitor enters the place, the noise of the alleys and streets of the Old City gradually disappears, as the building is surrounded by a vast Grove called the "oasis of peace", which almost forgets who enters it that it is in the Old City of Jerusalem and is reminded by the sound of the azan of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the bells of the churches surrounding the place.

There are also three historical wells in the hospice Grove, on which an ancient water source was mainly relied, and the Austrian Cultural Center also houses important historical manuscripts that were kept in a huge library for fear of extinction.

Army Allowance service

In addition to tourists, since its reopening, the hostel has been receiving young Austrians who do not want to perform military service, as they stay in the hospice for a whole year, during which they serve the place in exchange for exemption from Flag Service in Austria.

The purchasing manager of the Austrian Hospice of the Holy Family in Jerusalem, Samir Shaabani, was born in the same place in 1968 and has been working there as an employee for years.

He tells Al Jazeera net that after the decision of the Israeli Ministry of Health to close the building in the Eighties of the last century on the grounds that it did not comply with the health standards required at that time, Austria restored the building and brought engineers from Germany and France to restore it and restore it as it was without tampering with the artistic mosaic paintings and Austrian historical touches that distinguished the place.

The architectural style of the building of the Austrian Inn of the Holy Family "Hospice" is similar to the style of the palaces surrounding the streets of the city center in Vienna, and the roof of the building overlooking the Old Town and surrounding neighborhoods is a starting point for exploring the sights of this ancient historical city.