Alexander's Courtyard

Alexander's Courtyard (Russian: ; Hebrew: ; Arabic: ), also known as the Alexander compound, is a group of historic buildings in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem registered to the government of the Russian Empire. The compound is named in honor of Alexander III of Russia, and is the closest Russian property to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre being only about 70 m (230 ft) away from Golgotha. The complex was built by the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society in 1896, and currently includes the Threshold of the Gates of Judgment, the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky, archaeological excavations, a small museum, and other attractions.

The land of the compound was acquired from Coptic clergy in 1859 through the efforts of the first Russian consul in Jerusalem, Vladimir Dorgobuzhinov. The land was originally intended for the building of the Russian consulate, but it was later decided that it would be more convenient for the consulate to be in the Russian Compound, which is outside of the Old City. In 1881, after Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich took a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, many antiquities were found to be preserved on this site, and extensive archaeological excavations began here under the direction of Antonin Kapustin. Archaeologists Conrad Schick, Charles Wilson, Melchior de Vogé, and Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau took part in the excavations. In 1883, a fragment of the second Jerusalem encircling wall with the Threshold of the Gates of Judgment, built between the 5th-4th centuries BCE, was discovered, along with the arch of the Temple of Hadrian, fragments of walls and the remains of two columns of the basilica of the Church of the Resurrection from the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great, as well as the remains of other structures from the 7th-8th centuries. Based on the results of the work done, Konrad Schick was awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus, 2nd degree. After the completion of the excavations, construction of the compound began directly above the site and was completed in 1891. On 22 May 1896, a house church in honor of St. Alexander Nevsky was consecrated at the compound. However, the outbreak of WWI marked the beginning of the decline of Alexander's Courtyard. After the October Revolution in 1917, Soviet Russia passed the Decree on Separation of Church and State. Legally, Russian Palestine remained the property of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, whose leadership found itself outside of Russia, in exile. Until 1985, the metochion recognized the Omophorion of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, but in that year the Palestine Society, headed by Archimandrite Anthony (Grabbe), withdrew from its membership. After this, the Alexander Metochion was occupied by the "Russian Orthodox Society of the Holy Land", headquartered in Munich, which since 2004 has been headed by German citizen Nikolai Hoffmann with the official name "Russian Orthodox Society of the Holy Land", also registered in Munich. The society claims to be the legitimate IOPS, headed by Bishop Anthony Grabbe, only slightly renamed. The current IOPS claims that Hoffman and his organization have no connection with the historical Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society. On June 11, 2015, Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev signed an order directing the Directorate of the President of the Russian Federation to carry out the necessary legal procedures to formalize Russia's rights to Alexander's Courtyard, including the Alexander Nevsky Church. The necessary documents for the Alexander Compound were submitted to the Israeli Ministry of Justice for review. According to Sergei Stepashin, "the Israeli authorities must issue a document stating that this is the propert

Church data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).