Palestine Exploration Fund Maps & Drawings PDFs
A selection of PDF plates from the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1867 - 1870
These aren't the complete collection, just those that will suffice for study of the temple mount and nearby parts of Jerusalem. Each plate opens in a new window or tab allowing them to be viewed alongside other resources, or in relation to each other.
The plates were difficult to find online. Some reasonably large jpeg images can be seen on auction sites but insufficient for the study. They are quite costly to buy with some auction houses asking £8,000.
The ones I found were on the Internet Archive and are identified as once belonging to Brigham Young University (BYU). It looks like Tipp-Ex might have been used on some detail or over annotations.
The BYU plates were discovered here: https://archive.org/details/planselevationss00warr and I have separated them to enable viewing without slowing down the computer.
Further information on the PEF Survey of Palestine can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEF_Survey_of_Palestine
Intriguingly, a researcher called [redacted] was at BYU, and according to Wikipedia, expanded on research by [redacted], so I wonder if the BYU plates were part of her studies? Adding to the intrigue is what is written on most of the plates in the bottom right hand corner: "locked case", and each one is stamped "do not distribute." I wonder why?
I suppose it doesn't help their case to find a rock almost 50 cubits in height with a structure upon it named the Antonia, at the northwest corner of the temple mount on PEF plate 37...
Please note these are very large PDF files - between approx. 2MB and 5MB each - and you'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed to view them.
Resolution enables zooming to 500 percent without loss of definition.
2. Rock Contours of Jerusalem: dome of the rock northwards
3. Rock Contours of Jerusalem: south of the dome of the rock
4. Temple Mount: dome of the rock northwards
5. Temple Mount: south of the dome of the rock
6. Rock Contours of the Noble Sanctuary (Temple Mount): dome of the rock northwards
7. Rock Contours of the Noble Sanctuary (Temple Mount): south of the dome of the rock
8. Sections through plates 2 and 3 showing rock contours of Jerusalem
9. More Sections through plates 2 and 3 showing rock contours of Jerusalem
10 Sections through plates 4 and 5
11 More sections through plates 4 and 5
12 Sections and elevations through plates 4 and 5
19 Elevation of east wall of Noble Sanctuary at the south east angle
37 The twin tunnel at the north west angle of the Noble Sanctuary: showing the Antonia
40 Section and elevation of the Ophel including an isometric projection of the towers of Ophel