Let’s get medieval!
Jerusalem Knights Festival is Jerusalem’s throwback to about 1,000 years ago with fun-filled and family-friendly celebration inspired by the Middle Ages.
During this festival, Jerusalem’s Old City revisits is Crusader-era past with shows, street performances and artistic and cultural events inspired by that era.
But unlike the real Middle Ages — where life was brutal, nasty, harsh, and short — the Jerusalem Knights Festival is full of fun evenings that make anyone’s medieval fantasies a fulfillment.
In every festival held, the organizers promise that this is going to be their biggest show (just yet), with new, exciting, and spectacular features.
Visitors and spectators get to step back further in time as artists and performers — clad as knights and gladiators in shiny, polished armor and as maidens in laced-up bodices — dance, sing, jiggle, and do other sorts of entertainment at the old-fashioned tavern. Musicians perform medieval tunes and songs (of course), and even some are played with real medieval-era musical instruments.
There is also jousting, a sports contest involving two opponents (usually knights), both on horseback, who fight each other with lances. It was a typical sport and entertainment spectacle during the medieval times. Spectators get to witness what jousting is all about and how it is carried out, with (not-so-shining) knights mounted on beautiful (real) horses battling it out for supremacy.
The festival also screens movies, projected on the walls of the Old City.
There is also an arts fair that features potters, blacksmiths, glass blowers, jewelry makers, and a lot more.
Jerusalem Knights Festival 2010
During October 2010 Jerusalem staged a street happening in the Christian Quarter of the Old City entitled Jerusalem Knights. It tried to recreate some of the medieval atmosphere that may have existed during the Crusader period. It was incredibly popular and the streets were heaving. The plaza was full of performers and spectators. The live shows were performed by people in tacky historical costumes and funny medieval-era-designed photo-op booths, which only added to the fun and hilarity of the event. A good time was had by visitors, performers and shop keepers.
