This object belongs to the production of Jerusalem olive wood souvenirs, a flourishing craft in the nineteenth century intended for pilgrims and visitors to the holy sites. Boxes, albums, paperweights and bindings were carved from the olive wood of the Holy Land, wood laden with biblical significance, and decorated with views of the sanctuaries and inscriptions. This local industry, fed by the boom in religious tourism and missions, supplied the diaspora and travelers with objects materializing the link to ancestral land. Olive wood working became a marker of applied art in Jerusalem in the modern era.
