Bet Tabor, Conrad Schick

Welcome to Bet Tabor and STI Maybe the nicest house of Jerusalem

Bet Tabor is the residence of the Swedish Theological Institute STI in Jerusalem, owned by the Church Sweden since 1951. This is a place for meeting between people, a place for sharing knowledge and inspiration, but also a place for worship, since the house has its own Chapel with services held regularly. The house was build by the city engineer Conrad Schick, as his private residence 1882. The former mayor of Jerusalem Teddy Kollek said some years ago as visiting Bet Tabor: ”This is maybe the nicest house of Jerusalem”. The house is build with hand cut stone, both lime and sand stone. It has many interesting and beautiful details. Schick build it as his masterpiece, mixing both European styles and Oriental traditions and put many archaeological findings into it. For example the arches above the windows, the corners and the top stones of the roof and all the details around doors and windows. Above the entrance door is a small port house for a guard watching who is coming in. There is a whole in the floor for him to poor liquid upon unexpected guests so please keep alert!

Above the windows Conrad Schick build arches, to make it strong and beautiful. The arches of the ceilings indoors also give the house its strong characteristic. The house also has its own Chapel with some interesting icons. The Chapel hosts the local Swedish parish.

Dr. Conrad Schick

City engineer, Archaeolog, Architect, Model builder As young Schick was trained as an apprentice carpenter, and as he lived close to Switzerland he also was taught to repair watches. At he age of 20 he moved to Basel for practical and theoretical studies that later took him and another fellow to Jerusalem in order to build up a Brotherhood in the city. The trip from Basel to Jerusalem took them 7 weeks. His first year in Jerusalem was hard with a weak health and a poor economy. He started a hostel for vocational training of young Arab boys apparently without home. Later he joined the Anglican ’House of Industry’ for practical education of young Jewish boys. That led him into making models of the city and the holy places. These models were sold or exhibited by the Ottomans or Europeans. His models were masterpieces both as art and as a depiction of the contemporary situation. One of his models took him 8 years to finish. All together he made 16 different models. Schick was born in Bitz in southern Germany 1822, moved to Jerusalem at the age of 24, married and stayed her until his death 1901, for 56 years! Mea Shearim build for the Orthodox Jews coming from East Europe and The Talita Kumi Orphanage at King George Street are some projects planned by him.

As a resident of Jerusalem he soon became the person that know most about both ancient and present days. He was often enrolled as an assistant for British and German archaeological excavations. His speciality was topography. He later developed a skill for archaeology and soon he himself became the leader of a number of projects. For many years he wrote articles for German and British journals. Schick also performed as an architect and is still known for a number of projects in the new parts of Jerusalem.