The Jerusalem Knights Festival was held in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem (in October 2010.
The festival is an initiative of the Jerusalem Municipality, the Jerusalem Development Authority, and Ariel (a municipal production company).
The Jerusalem Knights Festival celebrated the rich medieval cultural legacy in Jerusalem. Performers and participating visitors “get medieval” by donning colorful historical costumes and reveling in the fun with medieval-era-themed performance numbers and other events.
Jerusalem Knights Festival is Jerusalem Old City’s throwback a thousand of years ago with fun-filled and family-friendly celebration inspired by the Middle Ages.
But unlike the real Middle Ages — where life was brutal, nasty, bloody, and short — the Jerusalem Knights Festival is full of fun (and certainly non-violent) evenings that make anyone’s medieval fantasies a fulfillment.
The organizers promise that every festival held is going to be their biggest show (just yet), with new, exciting, and spectacular features.
Visitors 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.
In the festival 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.
Movies are screened by projecting them on the walls of the Old City.
Visitors can also check out the arts fair that features potters, blacksmiths, glass blowers, jewelry makers, and a lot more.
You can really see that the Old City comes to life during the evening with lights, sounds, and color that attract Israeli and foreign visitors and tourists. The tacky costumes only add to the fun and hilarity of the festival, which is a great way to while away from the every day cares of the city.
The festival trail usually winds through the Old City’s Christian Quarter and Armenian Quarter and go around the ancient stone walls. Visitors and spectators will be greeted by the performers, who are so much in character with their historical garbs and costumes, to welcome Jerusalem 1,000 years ago.
Check out a couple of videos below, taken from the 2010 Jerusalem Knights Festival:
See also the Jerusalem Knights Album