On the central square of the city there is a fountain of zodiac signs. It was created by artists and sculptors - residents of Jaffa. And over the square rises the bell tower of the church of St. Petra. It is built on the foundations of the destroyed church of the Byzantine period and the remnants of the structures of the time of the Crusaders. The Byzantine church was destroyed during the invasion of the Persians in 614 AD, and was partially restored at the end of the Byzantine period in the Holy Land. The German king Frederick II - the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire built a large fortress on the ruins of the Byzantine church, which was destroyed by Muslims and rebuilt during the Seventh Crusade by the French king Louis (Louis) the Ninth. This fortress, church and monastery were destroyed in 1264 A.D. Mamelukes, however, one of the semicircular towers was preserved and was used in the construction of a modern church by Franciscan monks in 1654. Franciscans built not only a church, but also a large inn, which was used by almost all European pilgrims to the Holy Land in the 17th and 18th centuries. Napoleon and his numerous scientific expedition to the Holy Land, was located in this inn in 1799. After Napoleon’s campaign, the church and the inn were destroyed several times and rebuilt, until from 1888 to 1894 a modern Baroque building was built with the support and donations of the Spanish Royal Court. In 1903, the complex of buildings was expanded and the church was the cathedral of the Catholic community of Jaffa before the construction of the St. Anthony in 1932. Translated with Google Translate
This unhurried walk from the embankment through the old city to another part of the embankment will allow you to fully understand and feel the old part of the city of Jaffa. Walking along the promenade from the famous ledge resembling the bow of a ship to the customs building, we learn the history of an important port city, and, having understood from the port along the stairs to its narrow streets, we plunge into the kingdom of the east. But not for long will we be accompanied by a sense of fairy tales of a thousand and one nights. The modern history of Jaffa will slightly open the veil on his creative and pictorial side. These are galleries, monuments, sculptures, a constant floating orange and zodiac signs with a wish bridge. We conclude our walk by going down along the house of Simon Tanner to the English part of the port to its restaurants, shops and the famous scales, which served the English customs faithfully in a difficult fight against smugglers. By the way, from the roof of the house of the tanner Simon almost two thousand years ago, Christianity began its journey to Rome. Translated with Google Translate
