Date: Completed 2015

Architect/Project Manager: WSRM Architects 

Client: Managing Board of the Jewish Community

Description: An award-winning installation featuring a series of raised walkways and pathways, sensitively integrated in a historic Grade A Listed Cemetery, located on a challenging site, allowing safe access and a sensory nature experience to visitors, including resting points, scenic vantage points and places for meditation.

Hints of Jewish symbolism are incorporated in the architectural design by WSRM Architects. The feature walkways balustrading depicts abstracts of the branches of the Menorah (sacred candelabrum) from King Solomon’s Holy Temple, where the oil lamps burned continuously, the eternal flames symbolic of eternal souls. The circular form also features prominently in the design and is again, reminiscent of spiritual continuity.

Jews Gate Cemetery (also known as Windmill Hill Cemetery) is found in Gibraltar, on Windmill Hill, located on the SouthEast face of the upper rock area, a steep hill surrounded by dense vegetation. The Cemetery has been, and still is, regularly visited by members of the Gibraltar Jewish Community for prayers on significant Jewish calendar dates, as well as by visiting tourists. It was believed to have been in use between the 1720’s and 1860’s. Many local Jews locals can trace back to their ancestors buried in the cemetery. The location of the burial ground, precarious access stairway and original raised footpaths around the site, measuring approximately only a foot wide, made it unsafe for most to visit.

In 1989, the Gibraltar Heritage Trust designated the Jews’ Gate Cemetery on Windmill Hill as a Category A Listed Building (as noted in the Heritage Trust Act).

WSRM Architects were commissioned by the Managing Board of the Jewish Community (MBJC) in November 2012, to act as Architects, Project Managers, Lead Designers and Contract Administrators in order to design and deliver a refurbished, improved and safe access for visitors to the Jews Gate Cemetery.

WSRM’s initial designs explored ideas to resolve issues posed by the challenges related to the religious sensitivity, historical nature and Heritage value of the area, as well as the physical site constraints such as the steep gradient of the incline and the closeness of one grave to the next. The original access within the site constituted narrow and slightly raised concrete walkways weaving between graves, positioned in an attempt to prevent visitors stepping on the tombstones.

WSRM’s solution was to replace the existing paths and provide a safe raised walkway system. This would be as a sensitive intervention with minimal supports giving a sense of ‘lifting’ while still affording a visual connection to the tombs below as visitors walk over. Access into the site would also be improved with the addition of a ramp, new stairway and easily accessible paths to the lower section of the cemetery for visitors with physical impairment. Materials for the new installations were carefully specified by the Architects so as not to detract from, but enhance, the original historical features.

In order to facilitate the implementation of the design, WSRM Architects commissioned a specialist Ground Radar Survey to specific areas of the site in order to determine the exact positions of the walkway’s structural supports without disturbing any of the graves. These ‘markers’ were then used to plot out a journey connecting key areas, resting points and places for meditation. This journey through the raised walkways would also provide a ‘nature experience’, amid aged tree canopies found within and along the fringes of the site.

Following Planning Approval of the proposals, the Project received funding in the form of a Gibraltar Government Grant to aid the realization of the scheme. The refurbished Cemetery, designed by WSRM Architects, was officially reopened in March 2015.

In October 2015, the Jews Gate Cemetery received a Group Heritage Award by the Gibraltar Heritage Trust - ‘for the sensitive installation of raised walkways and improved access to this Historic site’.

wsrm architects 

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF JEW'S GATE CEMETERY

When the combined British and Dutch navies attacked and conquered Gibraltar in 1704, they immediately undertook reinforcing the city s defences against the Spanish counter attack that was not long in coming. The British succeeded in hanging on to Gibraltar until the end of the Spanish War of Succession in 1712, and led to the Treaty of Utrecht the following year. During those eight years at war with Spain, the garrison needed supplies which obviously could not come from Spain, and England being so distant, the military authorities turned to Morocco. The first lines of supply for the garrison were set up by merchant Jews from Tetuan, who were themselves descendants of Jews expelled from Spain just over 200 years earlier. By the time the Treaty of Utrecht was signed there were 189 Jews already residing in Gibraltar.

It follows therefore that those first Jewish settlers in Gibraltar would require to organise themselves as an embryonic community. One of the first necessities would have been to have a Jewish cemetery. The question that comes to mind is why did they select such an inhospitable location for their cemetery. There were several reasons: firstly, Jewish law dictates that a cemetery cannot be located within the limits of a built up city; secondly, to locate the cemetery to the North of the town could have political consequences that if any land North of the Rock were ever to revert to Spain, there was still in force in Spain the Decree of Expulsion of 1492, which would not allow Jews to reside in Spain, whether alive or deceased; thirdly, Jew s Gate halfway up the Rock at its southern extremity faced directly towards Tetuan whence they arrived in Gibraltar.

Whilst the exact date of the opening of this cemetery is unknown, we do know that it was already in use from at least 1726. In 1848 the military authorities ordered the cessation of any further burials at Jew s Gate, which decision was strongly contested by the Jewish Community who even prepared a Deposition all the way to the House of Commons. At that time the Jewish Community had been burying their dead at Jew s Gate for at least 122 years, if not more.

It is tradition to bury Rabbis within a mini enclosure as a feature of respect. The legend is told that Rabbi Abraham Israel passed away on a Friday morning in the 1780 s and the Community wished to carry out the burial during that same day before the onset of the Sabbath that Friday evening. The Burial Committee wishing to bury the Rabbi within the existing enclosure where five other Rabbis were buried, discovered there was not enough room within the enclosure. There was not enough time to extend the enclosure or build a new one. It is said that the President of the Burial Committee made an exhortation to heaven that if Rabbi Israel was worthy enough to be buried with the other five Rabbis, that they should make room for him. Miraculously, when the workers came to prepare the grave they discovered that there was now precisely room enough, and Rabbi Israel was interred amongst his peers.

The Upper Rock during the 19th century and well into the 20th century became a military zone, and civilians were not allowed to enter the Upper Rock unless provided with a special permit. Jew s Gate Cemetery consequently became non-accessible and the military authorities issued a special permit for one day in the year, viz. on Lag Baomer, the Jewish equivalent to All Saints Day, when members of the Jewish Community were permitted to visit the cemetery. Round about the year 1925, Mrs Sarah Camila Mattana, the wife of Moses H. Mattana, then President of the Shaar Hashamayim Synagogue, had a dream, where the people buried in Jew s Gate Cemetery were inviting her to come and pay them a visit.

In the morning she informed her husband of her dream but they did not give it much importance. The following night Mrs Mattana once again experienced a repetition of the previous night s dream. When she once again had the dream recurring after three nights, both she and her husband felt they had to do something about it. They went and informed Rabbi Solomon Elmaleh, the Community s Chief Rabbi, about the recurring dream. Rabbi Elmaleh decided to contact the military authorities and requested an extraordinary one-off permit to visit the cemetery. The date was nowhere near the Lag Baomer visiting time but the authorities granted the special permit, and Rabbi Elmaleh accompanied by Mr Mattana and representatives of the Burial Committee went up to Jew s Gate. On arrival they were absolutely shocked to discover a platoon of soldiers excavating a trench down the middle of the cemetery to lay a water pipe. The excavation was unearthing human remains which is anathema to Jewish practice. Following a very strong protest from the Jewish Community, the excavations were stopped, the human remains carefully collected and re-interred, and it was decided to lay the water pipe above ground. One can certainly describe the situation as a call from the other side.

Now that the Upper Rock is open to the public, the Gibraltar Government very generously funded a project to provide an elevated walkway round the cemetery, with see through flooring which permits a much more user friendly means of visiting such an old monument. It must be mentioned that during the course of the recent works, great pains were taken not to disturb any of the graves, and many changes had to be made to the original design of the walkways to avoid doing so. The works at the same time resulted in the discovery of a number of further graves that had been covered over with soil but whose inscriptions are perfectly legible. This is in contrast to a majority of the tombstones that have been exposed to the elements for over 200 years and are no longer legible as a result of erosion of the relatively soft sandstone which was commonly used at the time. A recent topographical survey of the cemetery has revealed in excess of 800 graves and it would appear probable that there could be further graves to the South and West extremities. This is a possible project to undertake to try and determine the overall dimensions of the cemetery and of course discovering additional graves that could lie buried under the top soil, and which will undoubtedly have fully legible inscriptions.

by Mesod Belilo