Dominated by the green domes of its Church of the Holy Trinity, this compound was acquired by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1860 to strengthen the Russian imperial presence in the Holy Land. In the last years of the British Mandate, it and nearby streets were turned into a fortified administrative zone nicknamed ‘Bevingrad’ by Palestinian Jews after the reviled British foreign secretary Ernest Bevin.
Today it's home to Jerusalem’s central police station, law courts and soon a massive 37,100-sq-metre new campus for the Bezalel Academy of Arts & Sciences (scheduled for completion in 2021). With galleries, classrooms, shops and 2500 full-time students, it is likely to transform the neighbourhood.
