visual history with the community and so they also in white, their friends and associates to look fearless, to be bold, to be desiring to be unafraid of the camera. confident and empowered to nailing holies haunting images. celebrate. we're beauty and dignity, making them visible to the world who you're watching. d. w. news coming up next is our documentary series looking at the world's most famous hotels i'm. i'll be funny. the s in berlin from the team here. see at the top of the next hour, take care. imagine how many portion of lunch or thrown out in the world climate change can be very comp the story. this is my plan, the way from just one week. how much work can really get we still have time to go. i'm going all with

what 5th ah ah ah jerusalem city say could to judaism islam and christianity time and again, it has been full, shabba, destroyed and rebuilt a city that like few others has long been the focus of utopian hopes and dreams, and a flash point in the conflicts that have to find it to me. ah,

but it's also a city dotted with havens of quiet and peace, including the american colony hotel. ah. an oasis of welcome opened to every one no matter the nationality, ethnicity, or religion. ready time has left its marks only lightly. here. the hotel remains a haven of tolerance, jews, christians, muslims, israelis and palestinians all work side by side and share a common cause. it's a place of encounter. both staff and guests were patman mccann moses hotel is the safest place in the area. i know a place open to wall full door left to our liquidity mess. i think that story of the tell is it story. one crisis often and with miraculous savings.

guests to book a stay in this 5 star hotel are looking for plants, the mood he is gentle and relaxed. the $94.00 rooms and sweeps in the hotel, offer a place of tranquillity, instability in a city that is often anything bought bought. it took decades to this historic building to be transformed into a prestigious hotel. it began a 150 years ago, in a distant place. in the 1870s. chicago was the home of horatio, and anna spafford, horatio spafford was a prominent lawyer and the family lived in comfort with their 4 daughters. the spaniards would have thou protestant, in october,

$1871.00. chicago was devastated by fire. hundreds perished. the spaniards helped as much as they could, but the great fight had claimed much of the family's investments. o 2 years later, the spaniards decided to visit europe and earn fools went ahead. one night their ocean liner was rammed by a british vessel and sank within minutes. more than 200 people lost their lives. and his spafford survived. but her 4 daughters had drowned. blue anna and horatio tried to rebuild their lives after the tragedy. they had 3 more children, but their only son died of scarlet fever at the age of 4. some years later, when 1881, the staff was decided to leave chicago with their 2 youngest daughter's bertha and grace joining a small pilgrimage that set sail to jerusalem. it

was a lever. i'm a client that in lest vinkadesh jerusalem was a small city in a corner of the ottoman empire in a walled city. i considered wholly by all 3 monotheistic religions, highly. they all shared the belief that when the messiah returned, he would 1st appear in jerusalem annual silence. yes cult. oh, the small american congregation moved into a house in the old town in the muslim quarter. they had no desire to be missionaries. they were waiting for the fulfillment of the biblical prophecy. the 2nd coming of christ, ah, is bedford's milligan. i again as this backwards formed their very own private and personal sex and were convinced that the messiah would come the following year at easter, to austin. they went up the mount of olives every sunday in case christ had arrived

on the mount of olives. and i think some of the community were quite prepared to accidentally run into jesus christ on the street in the $330.00 might just be walking around and the old city and clare reflect each other. oh, my gosh, i have to say, i find it difficult to describe anna's buffer to show me melody. there's something i really like about her k o been, but many people were afraid of her much. i'm out of the day. she was a strong woman to be love and it will show the way the american colony developed had a lot to do with her on a leaky low. you'd say i'd say her religious ideas slowly took hold in the community. actually, i paid don't you? like build your playing a little bit so little for celibacy, was introduced in 1886 i li, celibacy, probably because horatio and anna had grown apart. a canoe, a big lunch to rush over, and it wasn't purely out of spiritual motive. cynita,

a lawyer, i'm me, me a spirit to arlington. william when enter instructed the group to top sexual abstinence one young woman lizzy page stood up to her. mm. lizzie, chicago, ha, lizzie, who was a good friend at anna's, would not accept the commandment of abstinence, asking them what i said, my spiritual relationship is as sacred to me as my relationship with my husband. he mcneally law marana did not like lizzy's resistance release, even then she banished the couple from the american colony may even after lizzie fell ill. he he thought on, but she died of pneumonia, hold on me, and her bite gun been call him after her death. her husband odus returned to the american call at 8 o'clock on american call him,

the american consul was determined to disband to commune. he regarded its members, a charlatans, accusing them of loot behaviors. but he didn't succeed. unexpected continued her philanthropic work with zeal, and her door was remained open to the needy. the next generation of the family went its own way. horatio and anna's daughter, beth married, frederick vesta, a gym and swiss. she to fight her mother's policy celibacy and the couple had 6 children. there was also bertha who decided to take in more visitors to the commune . in asking actual pronouncing it took off with the 1st wave of tourists beginning in 19031904. when the american company clark tours brought mostly wealthy american travellers to jerusalem tables at him cracked. mm.

the financial groundwork for the hotel had been laid several years earlier in 1896 more than a 100 sweets drawn in by an spf, it's vision and ideas joined the community. the sweets contributed much needed practical skills and help boost to communities, economic prospects, agriculture and handy crafts became an important source of income. the american colony began to flourish and prosper. by then, the community had more than a 150 members. the american colony was bursting out of its household city after the sweets had got there. they were very wealthy at the time they were looking for somewhere that they could expand and somewhere they could farm by now that they had pixel, they had cows,

they were looking for gardens to grow things. looking for space in the group moved to a large estate which would later become the american colony hotel. ah, at the time it was situated in the midst of olive groves outside the jerusalem city walls. a former palace with many rooms, a shady court yard and a magnificent garden, an estate with a special atmosphere. it continues to this day. the move did not change the guiding principles behind the american colony. the members continued their charitable work and were valued as gracious hosts. they quite quickly became influential or just that people came to them in the muslims and jews, and, and,

and christians all came to sing with them even if they didn't speak the language. and they were very good singers, and they sang a lot and they sat around and they talked and they talked about life and they talked about how to lead a good life and, and they were not missionaries, they weren't proselytize. and so that people were not threatened by them, mostly nozzle flush on the beginning. they use their ability to speak arabic to network with the neighborhood, and they initiated social projects, yet they found her to school that also accepted muslim children as well as jewish children who wished to attend i. so they were striving for integration from the start. i know that song, often unforgotten, unclipped, and for them it doesn't matter what you were because they themselves was strangers . they probably knew what it was to be a stranger, so they were the ones who took the men. when you have a philosophy of openness, then of course does the precursor of hospitality, isn't it because he tent is open. so i think probably the hotel was

a natural development of the philosophy and me and the best, his guidance, the hotel flourished. she tastefully blended furnishings from europe in the mid laced which lent the rooms a distinctive flare. she also had a passion for culture and guests enjoyed evenings of music and excursions to the surrounding area. original buildings still standing today. the ottoman architecture, the round arches and the stone walls have been preserved over the decades with careful restoration work. the original character of the state remains intact. there was subtle nonce to the past throughout the building. ah, the de cool off is the sense of comfort and ease. even the largest suite has

a bathroom that is modest, an unpretentious in design. history is still visible here. oh, tell trademark the hotel even has its own archive, which is tended to with care. it's open to guests who want to delve into the history of the american colony hotel. ah. the swedish arrivals founded a professional photo studio which took tens of thousands of photographs. ah, the expansive collection is one of the kind document of the past. ah, weed of the studios quality work spread quickly at the time.

he sal gillman. yeah, william she me. kilby kaiser vill helm. the 2nd the german emperor visited jerusalem in february 1889. by that time, the american colony had already gained experience in photography. thing on it was an extraordinary opportunity to say, often they accompanied the kaiser from the landing in haifa to his arrival in jerusalem. he actually jojo, shall i'm very, it piece. they sent the photographs all over europe a. that was the project that brought them recognition. their hope of america zane will scream at him. lay reflect that ceylon moved to photography studio was not their only selling point by 1900. more and more wealthy americans began to visit jerusalem for the 1st time the american colony began to charge for room and

board. ah, the american colony also began to attract, visiting writers. ah, m 1 am with selma louder love. now today is the author of the wonderful adventures of neil's whole gazande. ah, a similar electric jelly ocean. i am very selma la, la la, visited jerusalem with her friend sophie elkin in march 1900 amy hoffman. some say they were a lesbian couple. so less be in the spirit. a evey selma had heard about the story of the swedish immigration and thought that it might be a good subject for a novel. sheila, a and the she me knows the fleet i was russia, lionel sector lay and she's been.