One of the holiest sites in Jerusalem is located on the summit of Mount Sion. Jews and Muslims consider it to be the burial place of the biblical King David. According to Christian tradition, Jesus held his Last Supper there with the apostles. Known as the Cenacle, the hall built by the Crusaders attracts multitudes of pilgrims from around the world.

Now an international research team, including historians from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) and the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), has documented and deciphered previously unknown inscriptions, coats of arms and drawings on the walls of the Cenacle. The results have just been published in a comprehensive article in the prestigious Liber Annuus, the yearbook of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem.

A Styrian Coat of Arms in Jerusalem

Most of the inscriptions made visible with digital methods date from the late Middle Ages, when the Cenacle lay at the centre of a Franciscan monastery. From an Austrian point of view, the following is of particular interest. In 1436, Archduke and future Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Habsburg made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem accompanied by 100 Austrian nobles.

One of his companions was Tristram von Teuffenbach of Styria, elements of whose family crest were found drawn on a wall of the Cenacle. Based on materials from the OeAW's long-term research project Corpus Vitrearum, which studies stained glass from the Middle Ages to the present day, the emblem is clearly attributable to the Styrian region of Murau.

Victorious Armenian king

In addition to the heraldic coat of arms from Styria, an Armenian inscription “Christmas 1300” is one of the most important discoveries. It could resolve a question that has been debated since the 14th century: did Armenian King Het'um II and his victorious army actually reach Jerusalem after the Battle of Wādī al-Khaznadār in Syria on December 22, 1299? The date of the inscription and its position high up on the wall – typical of the epigraphy of the Armenian nobility – supports this.

A fragment of Arabic inscription which reads: "...ya al-Ḥalabīya" is also of particular interest. Based on the double use of the feminine suffix "ya", the researchers concluded that this is a graffito of a female Christian pilgrim from the Syrian city of Aleppo, making it a rare material trace of pre-modern female pilgrimage.

A diverse pilgrim society

Moreover, the inscriptions and signatures of several well-known historical personalities could be identified. One such is Johannes Poloner of Regensburg who produced an interesting account of his pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1421/22. A charcoal drawing of the coat of arms of the famous Bernese patrician family von Rümlingen was also documented.

In addition to Armenia, Syria and the German-speaking world, there is evidence for pilgrims from Serbia and the Czech lands. However, the largest single group of graffiti was left by Arabic-speaking Christians from the East. “When put together, the inscriptions provide a unique insight into the geographical origins of the pilgrims. This was far more diverse than current Western-dominated research perspective led us to believe” says Ilya Berkovich, one of the OeAW’s co-authors of the study.