Matthew Teller: NINE QUARTERS OF JERUSALEM

In Jerusalem, what you see and what is true are two different
things.  Maps divide the walled Old City into four quarters,
yet that division  doesn’t reflect the reality of mixed and
diverse neighbourhoods. Beyond  the crush and frenzy of its
major religious sites, much of the Old City  remains little
known to visitors, its people overlooked and their  stories
untold. Nine Quarters of Jerusalem lets the communities  of
the Old City speak for themselves. Ranging through ancient past
and  political present, it evokes the city’s depth and
cultural diversity.


Matthew Teller’s highly original ‚biography‘ features the Old
City’s  Palestinian and Jewish communities, but also
spotlights its Indian and  African populations, its Greek
and Armenian and Syriac cultures, its  downtrodden Dom Gypsy
families and its Sufi mystics. It discusses the  sources of
Jerusalem’s holiness and the ideas – often startlingly
 secular – that have shaped lives within its walls. It is an
evocation of  place through story, led by the voices of
Jerusalemites.


Matthew Teller is an Author, Travel Writer and
 Documentary-Maker.  He writes and broadcasts for the
BBC and other media  outlets around the world.
His latest book Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of
the Old City was published in March 2022 (Profile Books Ltd,
9781788169189)


Viola Raheb, Theologian is Project Manager at
Pro Oriente Foundation Vienna and Senior Fellow at Bruno Kreisky
Forum