Gary A. Byers<\/b><\/p>\n
He is probably the world\u2019s foremost authority on the ancient Temple of Herod in Jerusalem, his art work is known by scholars and lay people worldwide, his services are coveted by every dig director in Israel and he spent September at the Associates for Biblical Research dig at Khirbet al-Makater. He is Dr. Leen Ritmeyer. Leen (pronounced \u201cLane\u201d) and his son Nathaniel (\u201cNat\u201d) joined the ABR excavation under the direction of Dr. Bryant Wood. Fifteen-year-old Nat dug while his dad drew plans of our structures. Already an accomplished digger, Nat has previously dug at Ramat HaNadiv on Mount Carmel, Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem and Nessana in the Negev. Born in Jerusalem, the trip was like coming home for Nat, and he took the opportunity to visit a good friend in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
Dr. Wood began corresponding with Leen about using some of his artwork in one of our publications. As a result of this contact, Dr. Wood invited him to come and draw the gate complex\/monumental structure we are uncovering at Kh. al-Makater. Dr. Ritmeyer\u2019s ability to see the big picture <\/p>\n
Dr. Leen Ritmeyer drawing the plan of the gate complex at Kh. al-Makater, September 1996.<\/b><\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 10:1 (Winter 1997) p. 10<\/p>\n
from square-to-square and field-to-field is amazing. Even before he had drawn any plans, his help on site was invaluable. Then he demonstrated just how handy he was with a pencil, a tape measure and an architect\u2019s scale.<\/p>\n
Leen, who is originally from Holland, went to Israel in 1969. With a MA degree in physical education, he went to work as a volunteer on kibbutz Yad Mordechai (named after one of the Warsaw Ghetto fighters from World War II). Then in 1973, Leen signed on as a digger for Professor Benjamin Mazar\u2019s Temple Mount excavation. The dig needed a surveyor and Leen was tapped for the job, although he had no previous experience. This was obviously a wise career move!<\/p>\n
As the dig\u2019s surveyor, Leen went from one area of the Temple Mount excavation to another. He got into places where no one but Professor Mazar went. One day, after measuring everything and waiting for the architects to draw them, Leen tried his own hand at architectural drawing. Another very good idea.<\/p>\n
It was on the Temple Mount excavation, in 1975, that Leen says he made his best archaeological discovery. \u201cI found my wife on Mount Zion,\u201d he said. Kathleen, originally from Ireland, had a degree in archaeology from University College in Dublin, Ireland. She had come to Israel to work on the Temple Mount excavations. This, too, was a good decision, and they were married in 1978.<\/p>\n
After the Temple Mount excavation ended, Leen also worked on other important Jerusalem excavations. On Nachman Avigad\u2019s excavation in the Jewish Quarter and Yigael Shiloh\u2019s City of David excavation, Leen did both surveying and reconstruction drawings. Since then, he has worked with almost every major dig in Israel. While his services were desired by every dig director in the country, they all wanted him at the same time and he just couldn\u2019t get to all of them.<\/p>\n
In 1983, Leen and Kathleen consolidated all their efforts into one enterprise. They established Ritmeyer Architectural Design (RAD) in Jerusalem. When the Intifada, which affected many of Leen\u2019s projects, broke out in 1989, they moved the business and family to England. In England, RAD became a true family affair with the Ritmeyer\u2019s five children, ages 16 to six, all helping. Daniel, the oldest, Nat, Ben and Anna were all born in Jerusalem. Joel, the youngest, was born in England. While in England, in 1990, Leen received a MA degree in Conservation Studies from the University of York while restoring a 14th century AD timber-frame building as a museum in York.<\/p>\n
Leen received his Ph.D. degree from Manchester University in 1992. His thesis, titled The Architectural Development of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem,<\/i> was a study of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. His research used archaeological evidence to explain the differences between the 500 cubit pre-Herodian Temple compound in the Mishnah and the Herodian Temple as described by Josephus.<\/p>\n
Although their professional talents have taken them all over the world, Leen and Kathleen have been continually drawn back to Jerusalem. Together they have published numerous <\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 10:1 (Winter 1997) p. 11<\/p>\n
articles and illustrations on the archaeology of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
Leen\u2019s approach to the Temple Mount is from an archaeological and architectural point of view. He began with the 500 cubit Temple Mount of Jewish sources and then determined the location of the Solomon\u2019s Temple. From there, he used archaeological data to attempt to locate where the Ark was placed within the Temple. Leen\u2019s thesis is soon to be published in England by the Palestine Exploration Fund. Leen and Kathleen are also hard at work on a semi-popular book, a compilation of all Leen\u2019s work as surveyor and architect in the Temple Mount excavations, his thesis research and the numerous articles he and Kathleen have written for Biblical<\/i> Archaeology Review<\/i>. Working from no particular political or religious perspective, except respect for the Biblical text, this new book will be the authoritative text and graphics work on Jerusalem\u2019s ancient Temple Mount.<\/p>\n
In spite of the worldwide appreciation of his work, Leen shies away from the sensational. He has refused to join the fray in searching for the Ark of the Covenant. While he did tell me he has a definite idea where the Ark is today, he refused to discuss it. \u201cI do not want to participate in all the sensationalism about the location of the Ark of the Covenant,\u201d he said. All I could get out of him was that he does not believe it is in any of the places others are looking. His view, he said, is not based on archaeological evidence, but on Scripture. \u201cFor the present I have chosen not to participate in the current discussion,\u201d he said. \u201cBut at the proper time I will speak out.\u201d<\/p>\n
All those who participated in the September dig season at Khirbet alMakater were thrilled to have Leen join us. Everyone wanted to have their picture taken with him. Unfortunately, his services are not well compensated by the Khirbet al-Makater dig. Nobody\u2019s are. We are a low-budget operation and everybody who works with us has to join us in trusting the Lord, including Leen. \u201cGod willing and money allowing, I will come again to work on the Khirbet al-Makater dig. I do not identify with the trend among scholars to dismiss the Bible and I am attracted to those who do proper archaeology and believe the Scriptures to be true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Visit Ritmeyer Architectural Design on the World Wide Web, at http:\/\/dialspace.dial.pipex.com\/ritmeyer\/.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gary A. Byers He is probably the world\u2019s foremost authority on the ancient Temple of Herod in Jerusalem, his art work is known by scholars and lay people worldwide, his services are coveted by every dig director in Israel and he spent September at the Associates for Biblical Research dig at Khirbet al-Makater. He is … Continue reading “THE
\nTEMPLE MAN
\nAN INTERVIEW WITH LEEN RITMEYER”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}