The Monastery at Latrun was established in 1890 and served as a way station for pilgrims from Jaffa to Jerusalem in the 19th century. During the First World War the Turks expelled the monks and destroyed the monastery. The Monks returned in 1927 when they built the present building. The clock tower of the church was completed only in 1954.
The Latrun Monastery, where until 1960 the monks took a vow to refrain from idle talk and to uphold silence at all times except during prayer, became famous for the good wine and olive oil it produces and which are available from a small shop run by the monks. The monastery garden is also beautiful and so is the outside area surrounded by olive trees. In fact the son and I took books with us and, after we had been inside the church and looked around the gardens, we sat for a while under the trees, thoroughly involved in our reading material until the 5 o'clock bells began to peal and announced to us that it was perhaps time to go home.
The house was built in 1930-31 and was Paula and David Ben-Gurion's permanent home until they settled in Sde Boker, a kibbutz in the Negev desert of southern Israel, and then they lived alternately here and there until Ben-Gurion's death.
All the items belonging to the Ben-Gurions are in the house, in the same condition and in the same place they used to be when the house was lived in. It was, in fact, a little bit like stepping back in time. The hubby said that some of the items in the house reminded him of his grandma's possessions. The youngest son was rather taken with Ben-Gurion's four library rooms where he used to work, write letters and his diary, and to receive guests and friends.
Afterwards we watched a film all about Ben-Gurion's life in the neighbouring Hillel Cohen House, and finished the day eating frozen yoghurt on the beach. It can't all be educational you know!
1 comments:
Wonderful gems near your home! The monastery is so beautiful with its architecture. I am sure the monks' wine and olive oil are both delicious!
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