Journey to the Holy Land

In late March 1829, a young Austrian major leaves Smyrna aboard the corvette Veloce. His mission: to bring Abdallah, pasha of Acre, to terms after the pasha drove out the Austrian consul and had his flag torn down.

The voyage nearly ends before it has begun: on 31 March, in the waters off Psara, storm and waterspouts threaten to swallow the ship. After six days of repairs at Sigri, the Veloce finally anchors at the foot of Mount Carmel. While negotiations get under way, Anton Prokesch travels down the coast through the ruins of Caesarea to Ramla, journeys by night with a caravan and enters Jerusalem by the Pilgrims' Gate for Easter week.

A night office at the Holy Sepulchre, dawn on the Mount of Olives, the ramparts paced out step by step, an evening with the odd missionary Joseph Wolff and Lady Georgiana: the officer observes everything, compass in hand and Bible in mind, with a sober piety and a clear-eyed view of the traditions. Received as a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre according to the old ritual, spurs and sword of Godfrey of Bouillon included, he goes on to Bethlehem, Nazareth, Mount Tabor and the banks of the Jordan.

What remains is the essential: to appear before the pasha in his fortress at Acre, while Muhammad Ali already covets Syria. What will a major's word weigh against the master of the place? Under the pen of the future great diplomat of the East, the pilgrimage also becomes a game of chess.