This paper aims to question the concept of « citadinité » through the notion of public knowledge by focusing on practices associated to private libraries and printing press in Jerusalem between 1840 and 1940. It is based on a inquiry conducted at the archives of three printing press : the Franciscan Printing Press of Jerusalem, the first Hebrew Printer and the Armenian Press. It is cross-referenced with a study at the archives of the Khalidi Library and the archives of The Alliance israélite universelle. Through these five case studies, the paper argues that we can clearly see in the Holy city an increase in the flow and exchange of knowledge, in a process of hybridization that helped bring about a shared urbanity in the second half of the 19th century. In the Khalidi Library for instance, we find Koranic exegeses but also classical European Literature and a French-Hebrew and Arabic-Hebrew dictinary, all of which attests to the great diversity of cultural horizons. In the archives of the Franciscan Printing Press of Jerusalem, we find a record of every volume printed since its founding in 1847 (authors, deadlines, runs) and that the first wolume printed in January 1847 is an Arabic alphabet primer followed by an Arabic translation of the catholic catechism. An investigation of these archives completed by the archives of the Armenian Press (founded in 1833) and the first Hebrew Printer, founded in 1841, helps to understand what reading practices and inter-linguistic exchanges are at play. Finally, studying the enrollment lists contained in the archives of religious schools allows to notice that contrary to what one might beleive, even in Jerusalem, families often placed their children in schools outside their own faith. The Alliance israélite universelle is a case in point because it was attended by many Christian and Muslim students. Religious schools, libraries and printing press are used here as essential areas of research to grasp the concrete practices of a shared knowledge in the Holy city in the second half of the 19th century.