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Last update - 14:45 14/07/2008 Mark Twain and Ariel Sharon shared the same roof in Jerusalem By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Ariel Sharon, Mark Twain  A group of researchers and archaeologists has recently located the Jerusalem building that housed the famed Mediterranean Hotel, which served in the late 19th century as the intelligentsia's cultural, social and tourist hub in the Holy Land. Based on photos, blueprints, maps and observations, the research team was able to pinpoint the institution to the Wittenberg House in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. Today, the building houses the religious seminary of the Ateret Cohanim non-profit organization. In 1867, however, the structure saw a very different guest: The American humorist, satirist, lecturer and writer Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by the pen name Mark Twain. Advertisement Twain, who stayed in the Mediterranean during a trip to the Land of Israel and Europe, wrote in the hotel at least one of the 50 letters that served as the basis for a book on his travels, entitled "The Innocents Abroad or The New Pilgrims' Progress." To this day, the book is considered the most widely-read travel guide in the history of American literature. According to Shimon Gibson, a British-born archaeologist working in Jerusalem who headed the research team, even though Twain stayed in the Mediterranean for only two days, the discovery could have significant tourism value for American visitors to Israel. A few years after Twain's visit, the Mediterranean's Christian owners sold the building to Moshe Wittenberg - one of Jerusalem's most prominent philanthropists, after whom the building was named. Former prime minister Ariel Sharon also has a connection to the building - he purchased one of the apartments in it 20 years ago. Sharon eventually sold the apartment to the religious seminary. The vicissitudes of the Hotel Mediterranean's fate will be recounted in full next year, when a book on the subject is scheduled to be published, at the behest of the Benjamin Shapell manuscripts foundation, which funded the research Bookmark to del.icio.us   History undersea Israeli lifeguard stumbles upon ancient relic during morning swim. Elections, Hebrew style U.S. presidential hopefuls use Hebrew to woo the Jewish community.   1.   the Witttenberg house has a History. 10:04  |  A thinking Jew 14/07/08   2.   In the end the facts speak for themselves. 10:51  |  Jean Van Daem 14/07/08   3.   With all due rewspect to Marc Twain 11:55  |  Nora 14/07/08   4.   Jerusalem or Moscow 13:22  |  Random 14/07/08   5.   # #Nora, Nu? Lincoln visted Gettisberg one day and his speech 16:16  |  petra 14/07/08   6.   I urge you 16:17  |  utagawa 14/07/08   7.   THE ONLY THING THAT IS IMPORTANT IS THAT MERT SEES THE INSIDE OF 16:35  |  glenna 14/07/08   8.   Random ignorance 16:48  |  marbpl 14/07/08   9.   If you want more details about the discovery... 20:27  |  Menachem Grossman 14/07/08   10.   Hard tof forget how DISAPPOINTED Mark Twain was in Palestine 21:23  |  Dagma 14/07/08   11.   Mark Twain`s Memories ...... 21:37  |  Natasha 14/07/08   12.   #8 & #4 22:01  |  Get facts right 14/07/08   13.   Mark Twain and Ariel Sharon shared the same roof in Jerusalem 09:06  |  martin list, m.d. 15/07/08   14.   Dagma out by a thousand years. 09:23  |  A thinking Jew 15/07/08

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