Improvements of The Quarter
In the 19th century, European countries aimed to expand their influence in Jerusalem and so began constructing several structures in the Christian quarter. The Ottoman authorities attempted to halt European influence and established rules for buying land in the area. But personal interventions from the heads of those countries (such as Wilhelm II of Germany and Franz Joseph of Austria) led to construction of some buildings for those countries' religious authorities.
At the end of the 19th century, there were no further free lands for development in the Christian Quarter. In the same period, the Suez Canal had just opened and many Christians travelled to the Holy Land. This led to intensified competition between the European powers for presentation and influence in Jerusalem. France built hospitals, a monastery, and hostels for visitors outside the Old City adjacent to the Christian quarter - an area which became known as the French area. Even before them, the Russians located themselves in the nearby Russian Compound.
There was a natural desire for easy travel between the Christian Quarter and the new development, but at the time the Old City walls formed a barrier and travellers were forced to take an indirect path through either Jaffa Gate or Nablus Gate. In 1898, the Ottomans accepted the request of the European countries and breached a new gate in the Old City walls, in the area of the new development. The gate was called "The New Gate".
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“The improvements of ages have had but little influence on the essential laws of man’s existence: as our skeletons, probably, are not to be distinguished from those of our ancestors.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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