Simanovich, Simeon. Opisanie sviatago bolzhiya grada Ierusalima [“A Description of God’s Holy City of Jerusalem.”]

(ISRAEL, LAND OF).

(Moscow)

1771

Church Slavonic (in Cyrillic) text. Illustrated throughout with 70 finely engraved views of holy places and scenes. Printed on one side of the leaf only and bound with printed pages facing each other. Calligraphic, ornamental title page.

Röhricht 1232; cf. Tobler p. 116; Obolianinov 1920.

This rare pictorial guide-book to the churches and holy places of the Holy Land was composed by the Serbian Archimandrite of Jerusalem for pilgrims of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Followers of this church had a strong tradition of pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the text includes the Biblical significance of various sites to be visited. A copy in the British Library has a large folding plan of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but this is not found in all copies.