The 19th century Sergei House
© AFP/File Jonathan Nackstrand

JERUSALEM (AFP) - The 19th century Sergei Building is in the centre of Jerusalem and at the heart of complex negotiations in which even British royal consort Prince Philip has been mentioned as a potential, though unlikely, heir.

The Russian state had initially hoped to take possession in June of the impressive property that once belonged to Prince Sergei, a brother of Tsar Alexander III.

Since 1948, the building, topped by a crenelated tower, has housed the Israeli agriculture ministry and other agencies and been administered by the government's custodian general, responsible for property listed as abandoned.

A tangle of legal issues has held up the transfer, but Moscow remains determined to push the deal through and revive the building's past.

"We want to restore our historic heritage in the Holy land," says Russia's charge d'affaires in Israel, Anatoli Yurkov, who believes the deal could be completed as early as next month.

Imperial Russia was, in the 19th century, the first European power to organize mass pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Sergei Building, then known as the Sergei Imperial Hospice, was a kind of five-star hotel for pilgrims, housing only aristocrats and other well-heeled Russians.

It is now one of several historic buildings in the Russian Compound, which also includes the 19th century Russian Orthodox Holy Trinity Cathedral.

Traffic drives past the 19th century Sergei House in Jerusalem
© AFP/File Jonathan Nackstrand

Some of the land in the Russian Compound was sold to Israel by the Soviet Union in the 1960s in what became known as the "oranges deal" because the young and cash-strapped Jewish state made part of the payment in citrus fruits.

Officially atheist during the decades of communist rule, Russia's political establishment is now "responding in part to the Russian Church's desire to return to the Holy Land," says Alexandre Zanemonets, who teaches Byzantine history at Haifa University.

The desire to reclaim ownership of the historic buildings also "reflects the Russian people's interest in their Christian roots," he says.

Negotiations over the Sergei Building have been complicated by the fact the building was the private property of Prince Sergei. "That means the Russian state was not automatically entitled to this property," says Zanemonets.

Prince Sergei, who died in 1905, had no children.

But because of the British royal family has distant ties to the Romanovs, Prince Philip is a potential heir. "This may be the case, but it's an indirect right, and as far as I know he is not claiming the property," says Yurkov.

The diplomat says a deal was reached in January but that "problems on the Israeli side have caused delays."

Israeli officials say once the ownership hurdle is cleared, further negotiations will be needed to end the lease of the current tenants, the agriculture ministry and the society for the protection of nature.

Once the tenants have left, Russia wants to turn the building back to its original use, to house pilgrims.

In the Soviet era, barely 1,000 Russian pilgrims a year visited the Holy Land, but since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union the number of Russians retracing the steps of Jesus Christ has grown steadily, reaching 200,000 in 2007, a 163 percent increase over the previous year.

A further increase is expected now that Israel and Russia have reached a bilateral agreement to do away with visa requirements as of October.

©AFP