I have always wanted to check out the Mar Elias Monastery since I often pass it on my way to Gush Etzion. In looking it up, I was amazed to read that in 1910 William Holman Hunt's widow, Edith, commissioned a stone bench, which still stands today, just outside the monastery.
A few months ago, my friends Becky and Prezzy, and i rode out to the monastery to check out the bench. Sadly, some toolbag vandalised the bench with spray paint, and there appear to be inscriptions on the bench, but the weather has mostly worn them away. So why put the bench here? Apparently WHH loved the light out here, and apparently worked on 'The Light of the World' as well as 'The Scapegoat' from this very spot. Hunt took several trips to Palestine, and his daughter was even born in Jerusalem. Here's a pretty useless video i took of the bench...at night. In a previous post, i provided a bit more detail about WHH in Palestine. For more on WHH, click here.
The drama continues with Part 2: The House. Stay tuned...
