Sites - Jerusalem
The Walls of Jerusalem (Hebrew: חומות ירושלים) surround the
area of the old city of Jerusalem (approx. 1 km²). The walls
were built between the years 1535–1538, during the reign of
the Ottoman empire in the region of Palestine, by the
Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
The length of the wall is 4,018 km (2,496.6 mi), their
average height is 12 meters (39.37 feet) and the average
thickness of walls is 2.5 meters (8.2 feet). The walls also
contain 34 watchtowers and 8 gates.
In 1981, The Jerusalem walls were added, along with the Old
City of Jerusalem, to the UNESCO World Heritage Site List.
[3]
The walls of Jerusalem, which were built originally to
protect the borders of the city against intrusions, mainly
serve as an attraction for tourists since it ceased to serve
as a means of protection for the city.
History --
The city of Jerusalem has been surrounded by walls for its
defense since ancient times. In the middle Bronze Age, a
period also known as the Patriarchs period, a city named
Jebos was built in the location of today's Jerusalem, which
was relatively small (50,000 square meters) but was
fortified. Remains from this wall are located above the
Hezekiah's Tunnel.
According to the Jewish tradition, as it is expressed in the
Tanakh, Jerusalem remained a Jebusite city until the rise of
David, whom conquered the city and established the "City of
David" in the site of the Jebusite city. Later on King David
extended the walls, which were located on a low hill,
outside of the walls of outside of today's Old City area.
Solomon, David's son, built the first temple in the city and
also and also extended the city walls in order to protect
the temple.
During the First Temple period and until the destruction of
the First Temple, the city walls extended towards the
northwest part of the city, the area where today the Jewish
quarter of the city is located.
After several decades of captivity in Babylon and the
Persian conquest of Babylonia, Cyrus II of Persia allowed
the Jews to return to Judah and rebuild the Temple. The
construction was finished in 516 BCE. Then, Artaxerxes I
sent Ezra and then Nehemiah to rebuild the city's walls and
to govern Judah, which was ruled as Yehud province under the
Persians. During the Second Temple period, and especially
during the Hasmonean period, the city walls were expanded
and renovated. Herod the Great expanded the walls to include
the West Hill. Agrippa I later began the construction of a
third wall. The wall were completed just before the outbreak
of the First Jewish–Roman War. Some remains of this wall are
located today near the "Mandelbaum Gate" gas station.
After the Fall of Jerusalem, the walls were destructed and
were later partially restored during the Aelia Capitolina
period, after afterword extensively by the Empress Aelia
Eudocia. In 1033, most of the walls constructed by Empress
Eudocia were destroyed by an earthquake. During the Crusader
conquest in 1099, the wall was rebuilt but destroyed again
during the conquest of Saladin. Saladin's nephew, Almllach
Almatma Issa, ordered the reconstruction of the city walls,
but later on changed his mind after most of the watchtowers
were built, mainly because he feared that the city walls
would mainly assist the Crusaders if the manage to
reconquere the city.
In 16th century, during the reign of the Ottoman empire in
the region, the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent
decided to fully rebuild the city walls on the remains of
the ancient walls. The construction lasted from 1535-1538
and these walls are the walls that exist today.
During the Six Day War in 1967, which saw hand to hand
fighting on the Temple Mount, the Old City and the city
walls transferred to Israeli control.
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The Tomb of Simeon the Just (Hebrew: קבר שמעון הצדיק;
translit. Kever Shimon haTzadik) is the name given to a tomb
located on Abu Bakr-a-Sidiq road, in northern Jerusalem,
just south of the British School of Archaeology, which is
located at the east end of Simeon-the-Just street, in the
Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood. According to Jewish tradition,
it is the tomb of Simeon the Just and his students. However,
archaeologists date the burial cave to the Roman[1] or the
beginning of the Byzantine period. Indeed, the tomb itself,
via a Latin inscription, declares that it is actually the
burial place of Julia Sabina[1][2]; for uncertain reasons,
the inscription has since been badly mutilated, and the
vestibule in which it is sited has been walled up, and
hidden behind a closed 20th century door[3]
The first recorded mention of the site is by Jacob-the-
Apostle, a student of Jehiel of Paris, writing in 1235 that
near Jerusalem is the cave of Simeon the Just and his
students. Charles Warren asserts that the tradition of the
tomb dates back at least to 1537.[4] For centuries after
this, the cave tomb was only accessible by paying an
admission fee to the Palestinian caretakers of the site;
this was a common arrangement at Jewish and Christian (and
Roman) sites in Jerusalem.
However in 1876 the Jewish community purchased the site and
surrounding land for 15,000 francs. Under the guidance of
Jerusalem's chief rabbi, Shmuel Salant, housing construction
in the area around the tomb commenced in 1891. By 1948,
twenty Jewish families were living in these homes, but the
area then found itself in the very middle of a war zone;
after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the property fell on the
Jordanian side of the Green Line, and Palestinian families
moved into the, by then abandoned, homes.
During the Ottoman period, Wasif Jawhariyyeh mentions the
site as the location of communal festivities known as the
Yehudia, attended by Jewish, Christian, and Muslims in honor
of Shimon the Just[5]. While people flock to the tomb of
Shimon bar Yochai on Lag Ba'omer to perform the Upsherin
ceremony, the Tomb of Simeon the Just is used by many as an
alternative location.
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Acropolis (Greek: Ακρόπολη) means "highest city" in Greek,
literally city on the extremity and is usually translated
into English as Citadel (akros, akron,[1] edge, extremity +
polis, city, pl. acropoleis). For purposes of defense, early
people naturally chose elevated ground to build a new
settlement, frequently a hill with precipitous sides. In
many parts of the world, these early citadels became the
nuclei of large cities, which grew up on the surrounding
lower ground, such as modern Rome.
The word acropolis, although Greek in origin and associated
primarily with the Greek cities Athens, Argos, Thebes, and
Corinth (with its Acrocorinth), may be applied generically
to all such citadels, including Rome, Jerusalem, Celtic
Bratislava, many in Asia Minor, or even Castle Rock in
Edinburgh. An example in Ireland is the Rock of Cashel.
The most famous example is the Acropolis of Athens,[2]
which, by reason of its historical associations and the
several famous buildings erected upon it (most notably the
Parthenon), is known without qualification as the Acropolis.
Although originating in the mainland of Greece, use of the
acropolis model quickly spread to Greek colonies such as the
Dorian Lato on Crete during the Archaic Period.
Because of its classical Greco-Roman style, the ruins of
Mission San Juan Capistrano's Great Stone Church in
California, United States has been called the "American
Acropolis".[citation needed]
Other parts of the world developed other names for the high
citadel or alcázar, which often reinforced a naturally
strong site. In Central Italy, many small rural communes
still cluster at the base of a fortified habitation known as
La Rocca of the commune.
The term acropolis is also used to describe the central
complex of overlapping structures, such as plazas and
pyramids, in many Mayan cities, including Tikal and Copán.
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The elaborate Sanhedria Tombs lie to the north of the city.[9]
They were so called by later generations because the largest
of them contains 70 chambers with burial benches, and the
Sanhedrin had seventy member.[9] Each of the three tombs would
actually have contained the burials of a single, multi-
generational, wealthy family. They were constructed between
the reign of Herod and the year 70.[9]
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Bethany, in the Bible, was the name of a village near
Jerusalem - see Bethany (Biblical village) - mentioned in the
New Testament as the home of the siblings Mary, Martha, and
Lazarus and, according to the Gospel of John, the site of a
miracle in which Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. This
village is commonly identified with the present-day West Bank
city of al-Eizariya, located about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of
Jerusalem on the south-eastern slope of the Mount of Olives.
During the Crusades, al-Eizariya was still referred to as
Bethany by Christians.
There a second biblical site of this name, Bethany beyond the
Jordan, called Bethabara in the King James Version of the
Bible. This locality on the Jordan River above the Dead Sea is
described in the New Testament as the site where Jesus was
baptized by John the Baptist.
Many places are named for the biblical village of Bethany.
Bethany is also used as a female given name. It is of Aramaic
origin.
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Bethphage (meaning "House of Figs") was a place in ancient
Israel, mentioned as the place from which Jesus sent the
disciples to find a donkey and a colt with her upon which he
would ride into Jerusalem.
It is believed to have been located on the Mount of Olives, on
the road from Jerusalem to Jericho (Gospel of Matthew 21:1;
Gospel of Mark 11:1; Gospel of Luke 19:29), and very close to
Bethany. It was the limit of a Sabbath-day's journey from
Jerusalem, that is, 2,000 cubits. There is the Franciscan
Church of Bethphage at a likely location.
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Mary's Tomb is a tomb located in the Kidron Valley, on the foothills of Mount of Olives, near the
Church of All Nations and Gethsemane garden, originally just outside Jerusalem. It is regarded as the
burial place of Mary, the mother of Jesus by most Eastern Christians (many of whom refer to her as
Theotokos)[1][2], in contradistinction to the House of the Virgin Mary near Ephesus. Her remains are
not in the tomb though as it is believed that she was assumed bodily into heaven.
History --
Repairs necessitated by a flood in 1972 afforded the opportunity for archaeological investigation of
the site. Bellarmino Bagatti, a franciscan friar and controversial[3] archaeologist, performed the
excavation, and found evidence of an ancient cemetery, which he dated to the 1st century; his
findings have not yet been subject to peer review by the wider archaeological community, and the
validity of his dating has not been fully assessed.
Bagatti interpreted the remains to indicate that the cemetery's initial structure consisted of three
chambers (the actual tomb being the inner chamber of the whole complex), was adjudged in accordance
with the customs of that period. Later, the tomb interpreted by the local Christians to be that of
Mary's was isolated from the rest of the necropolis, by cutting the surrounding rock face away from
it. An edicule was built on the tomb[4].
A small upper church on an octagonal footing was built by Patriarch Juvenal (during Marcian's rule)
over the location in the 5th century, and was destroyed in the Persian invasion of 614. During the
following centuries the church was destroyed and rebuilt many times, but the crypt was left
untouched, as for the Muslims it is the burial place of the mother of prophet Isa. It was rebuilt
then in 1130 by the Crusaders, who installed a walled Benedictine monastery, the Abbey of St. Mary of
the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The monastic complex included early Gothic columns, red-on-green frescoes,
and three towers for protection. The staircase and entrance were also part of the Crusaders' church.
This church was destroyed by Saladin in 1187, but the crypt was still respected; all that was left
was the south entrance and staircase, the masonry of the upper church being used to build the walls
of Jerusalem. In the second half of the 14th century Franciscan friars rebuilt the church once more.
Since 1757, it has been owned by the Greek Orthodox Church.
The Church --
Preceded by a walled courtyard to the south, the cruciform church shielding the tomb has been
excavated in an underground rock-cut cave[5] entered by a wide descending stair dating from the 12th
century. On the left side of the staircase (towards the west) there is the chapel of Saint Joseph,
Mary's husband, while on the right (towards the east) there is the chapel of Mary's parents, Joachim
and Anne, holding also the tomb of Queen Melisende of Jerusalem.
On the eastern side of the church there is the chapel of Mary's tomb. Altars of the Greeks and
Armenians also share the east apse. A niche south of the tomb is a mihrab indicating the direction of
Mecca, installed when Muslims had joint rights to the church. On the western side there is a Coptic
altar.
The Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem is in possession of the shrine, sharing it with the Armenian
Apostolic Church. The Syriacs, the Copts, and the Abyssinians have minor rights. Muslims also have a
special place for prayer (the mihrab).
Tradition --
The Sacred Tradition of Eastern Christianity teaches that the Virgin Mary died a natural death (the
Dormition of the Theotokos, the falling asleep) like any human being; that her soul was received by
Christ upon death; and that her body was resurrected on the third day after her repose, at which time
she was taken up, soul and body, into heaven in anticipation of the general resurrection. Her tomb,
according to this teaching, was found empty on the third day. Roman Catholic teaching holds that Mary
was "assumed" into heaven in bodily form, the Assumption; the question of whether or not Mary
actually underwent physical death remains open in the Catholic view; however, most theologians
believe that she did undergo death before her Assumption.
A narrative known as the Euthymiaca Historia (written probably by Cyril of Scythopolis in the 5th
century) relates how the Emperor Marcian and his wife, Pulcheria, requested the relics of the Virgin
Mary from Juvenal, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, while he was attending the Council of Chalcedon (451).
According to the account, Juvenal replied that, on the third day after her burial, Mary's tomb was
discovered to be empty, only her shroud being preserved in the church of Gethsemane.
According to another tradition it was the Cincture of the Virgin Mary which was left behind in the
tomb.[6]
Authenticity --
The Eastern Orthodox Church acknowledges that Virgin Mary lived in the vicinity of Ephesus, in a
place currently known as the House of the Virgin Mary and venerated by Christians and Muslims, but
argues that she only stayed there for a few years; this teaching is based on the writings of the Holy
Fathers.
Although many Christians believe that no information about the end of Mary's life or her burial are
provided in the New Testament accounts or early apocrypha, there are actually over 50 apocryphon
about Mary's death (or other final fate). The 3rd century Book of John about the Dormition of Mary
places her tomb in Gethsemene, as does the 4th century Treatise about the passing of the Blessed
Virgin Mary.
The Breviarius of Jerusalem, a short text written in about AD 395,[7] mentions in that valley the
basilica of Holy Mary, which contains her sepulchre. Later, Epiphanius of Salamis, Gregory of Tours,
Isidore of Seville, Saint Modest, Sophronius of Jerusalem, German of Constantinople, Andrew of Crete,
John of Damascus talk about the tomb being in Jerusalem, and bear witness that this tradition was
accepted by all the Churches of East and West.
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The Church of All Nations, also known as the Church or Basilica of the Agony, is a Roman
Catholic church located on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, next to the Garden of Gethsemane.
It enshrines a section of bedrock where Jesus is said to have prayed before his arrest. (Mark
14:32-42 )
History --
The current church rests on the foundations of two earlier ones, that of a small 12th century
Crusader chapel abandoned in 1345, and a 4th century Byzantine basilica, destroyed by an
earthquake in 746. In 1920, during work on the foundations, a column was found two meters
beneath the floor of the medieval crusader chapel. Fragments of a magnificent mosaic were also
found. Following this discovery the architect immediately removed the new foundations and began
excavations of the earlier church. After the remains of the Byzantine era church were fully
excavated plans for the new church were altered and work continued on the current basilica from
April 19, 1922 until June, 1924 when it was consecrated.
Use by other denominations --
An open altar located in the gardens of the church is used by many Christian denominations
including followers who are Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Protestant,
Lutheran, Evangelical, Anglican, and any other version of Christianity or Orthodoxy that is
culturally unique to any particular nation.
Design and construction --
The chapel was built between 1919 and 1924 using funds donated from many different countries.
The respective coat-of-arms of each donating country are incorporated into the glass of the
ceiling, each in a separate, small dome, and also into the interior mosaics. The countries
honored in this way are; starting from the left side, beginning with the apse: Argentina,
Brazil, Chile and Mexico; in the middle of the church are commemorated: Italy, France, Spain
and the United Kingdom, and to the right: Belgium, Canada, Germany, and the United States of
America. The mosaics in the apses were donated by Ireland, Hungary, and Poland. The crown
around the bedrock itself was a gift of Australia. These multi-national donations give the
church its present title as the Church of "All Nations".
Two types of stone were used in the construction of the church: the interior utilizes a stone
from the quarries at Lifta, north-west of Jerusalem; and the exterior, a rose colored stone
from Bethlehem. The building is divided by six columns into three aisles. This design gives the
impression of one large open hall. Violet-colored glass was used throughout the church to evoke
a mood of depression analogous to Christ's agony, and the ceiling is painted a deep blue to
simulate a night sky.
The facade of the church is supported by a row of Corinthian columns set below a modern mosaic
depicting Jesus Christ as mediator between God and man. The designer of the facade mosaic was
Professor Giulio Bargellini. The bubble-domed roof, thick columns, and facade mosaic, give the
church a Byzantine look architecturally.
The church was designed by Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi and is currently held in trust by
the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.
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The Church of Mary Magdalene (Russian: Храм Марии Магдалины,
Khram Marii Magdaline) is a Russian Orthodox church located
on the Mount of Olives, near the Garden of Gethsemane in
Jerusalem.
History
The church is dedicated to Mary Magdalene (Miryam of
Migdal), a follower of Jesus. According to the sixteenth
chapter of the gospel of Mark, Mary Magdalene was the first
to see Christ after his resurrection. (Mark 16:9 ) She is
considered a crucial and important disciple of Jesus, and
seemingly his primary female associate, along with Mary of
Bethany, whom some believe to have been the same woman.[1]
The church was built in 1886 by Tsar Alexander III to honor
his mother, Empress Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. It was
constructed to David Grimm's design in the traditional
tented roof style popular in 16th and 17th century Russia,
and includes seven distinctive, gilded onion domes. The
convent is located directly across the Kidron Valley from
the Temple Mount.
Relics
Buried in the church are the remains of two martyred
Orthodox saints, the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of
Russia and her fellow nun Varvara Yakovleva,[2]. Also
interred there is Princess Alice of Greece, who was the
Grand Duchess's niece, the mother-in-law of Queen Elizabeth
II and a rescuer of Jews during the Nazi occupation of
Greece.
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Dominus Flevit is a Roman Catholic church located on the Mount of Olives immediately facing
the Old City of Jerusalem.
History
Dominus Flevit, which translates from Latin as "The Lord Wept", was fashioned in the shape of
a teardrop to symbolize the tears of Christ. Here, according to the 19th chapter of the
Gospel of Luke, Jesus, while walking toward the city of Jerusalem, becomes overwhelmed by the
beauty of the Second Temple and predicting its future destruction, and the diaspora of the
Jewish people, weeps openly. (Luke 19:37-42 )
One of the newest churches in Jerusalem, Dominus Flevit sits atop an ancient site. During
construction of the sanctuary archaeologists uncovered artifacts dating back to the Canaanite
period, as well as tombs from both the Second Temple and Byzantine eras.
The site of Christ's weeping was unmarked until the Crusader era. It was during this time
that people began commemorating the site. Eventually a small chapel was built there. After
the fall of Jerusalem in 1187, the church fell into ruin. In the early sixteenth century a
mosque or madrasah existed at the site, presumably built by the Turks, from the remains of
the earlier church, although the exact use is disputed. This place was known as el
Mansouriyeh (The Triumphant) and also el Khelweh (The Hermitage).
Construction --
The Franciscans were unable to obtain the ruins, so, in 1891 they purchased a small plot of
land nearby and built a small chapel there. In 1913 a small private home was built in front
of the Franciscan chapel by one Miss Mellon. This home eventually passed to the Sisters of
St. Joseph, who eventually sold it to a Portuguese woman. In 1940, the Benedictine Sisters,
being in financial hardship, sold a part of the property to the Franciscans, the old boundary
wall was moved at this time to make the division. The sisters were not content with the
quality of this wall and in 1953 the Franciscans began construction of a more suitable one.
While digging the foundations for the wall workers unearthed ancient tombs. Excavations
imemdiately began at the site, led by Fr. Bellarmino Bagatti, OFM.
A late bronze era tomb from the Canaanite period, as well as a necropolis used from 136 BC to
300 AD were discovered. The necropolis spanned two separate periods, characterized by
differing tomb styles. The earlier Second Temple era tombs were of the Kokhim style. While
the Byzantine era section was composed of tombs with arcosolium from the 3rd and 4th
centuries AD. A Byzantine monastery from the 5th century was also discovered. Mosaics from
this monastery still remain at the site. The current church was designed and constructed
between 1953 and 1955 by the Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi and is currently held in
trust by the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.
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The Tomb of the Prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi
(Arabic: Qubur el Anbia) is located on the upper slope of
the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, Israel. According to
Jewish and Christian tradition, the catacomb is believed to
be the burial place of Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, the
last three Hebrew Bible prophets who are believed to have
lived during the 5th-6th centuries BCE.
The entrance to the large rock-cut burial cave is on the
western side, where a staircase descends, flanked on both
sides by a stone balustrade, down to the central hall.[1]
The chamber forms two concentric passages containing 38
burial niches.[2] Research shows that the complex actually
dates from the 1st-centruy BCE, when these style of tombs
came into use for Jewish burial. Some Greek inscriptions
discovered at the site suggest the cave was re-used to bury
foreign Christians during the 4th and 5th centuries CE.[3]
The site has been venerated by the Jews since medieval
times, and they often visited the site.[4][1][5] In the late
19th-century, a Russian priest tried to purchase the
location in order to build a church over the site. The sale
was prevented due to a protest to the Turkish government by
the Jews who contested the plan.[6]
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The Church of the Pater Noster is a partially reconstructed Roman Catholic church located on the Mount of Olives,
north of the Tombs of the Prophets, in Jerusalem. It stands on the traditional site of Christ's teaching of the
Lord's Prayer. (Luke 11:2-4 )
History --
The modern church is built on the site of a 4th century basilica designed by Constantine I to commemorate the
Ascension of Jesus Christ. It was built under the direction of Constantine's mother Helena in the early 4th century,
who named it the Church of the Disciples. The pilgrim Egeria was the first to refer to it as the church of the
Eleona, meaning olive grove in the late 4th century. The church is mentioned by the Bordeaux pilgrim in the
Itinerarium Burdigalense circa 333, and the historian Eusebius of Caesarea recounts that Constantine constructed a
church over a cave on the Mount of Olives that had been linked with the Ascension.[1] The 2nd century Acts of John
mention the existence of a cave on the Mount of Olives associated with the teachings of Jesus, but not specifically
the Lord's Prayer. The church survived intact until it was destroyed by Persians in 614. The memory of Jesus'
teaching remained associated with this site, and during the crusades it became exclusively associated with the
teaching of the Lord's Prayer. Christian crusaders constructed a small oratory amid the ruins in 1106, and a full
church was constructed in 1152 thanks to funds donated by the Bishop of Denmark, who is buried inside the church. The
crusader era church was heavily damaged during the Siege of Jerusalem in 1187, eventually being abandoned and falling
into ruin in 1345. In 1851 the remaining stones of the 4th-century church were sold for tombstones in the Valley of
Jehoshaphat. The site was acquired by the Princesse de la Tour d'Auvergne in the late 19th century and a search for
the cave mentioned by early pilgrims began. In 1868 she built a cloister modeled on the Campo Santo at Pisa, Italy
and founded a Carmelite convent in 1872. In 1910 the foundations over the cave were found partly beneath the
cloister. The convent was moved nearby and reconstruction of the Byzantine church began in 1915. The church remains
unfinished.
Design and Layout --
The 4th-century Byzantine church has been partially reconstructed and provides a good sense of what the original was
like. The churches dimensions are the same as the original and the garden outside the three doors outlines the atrium
area. The church is unroofed and has steps that lead into a grotto where some Christians believe that Jesus revealed
to his disciples his prophesy of the destruction of Jerusalem and the second coming. Unfortunately the cave
containing the grotto partially collapsed when it was discovered in 1910. It also cuts partly into a 1st century
tomb. Left of the church's south door is a baptistery paved with mosaic. The cloister is of European style and
contains plaques that bear the Lord's Prayer in over 100 different languages.[2] A road to the right of the convent
leads to the Russian Church of the Ascension and Byzantine tomb chapels with some Armenian mosaics are preserved in a
small museum.
Location --
The church is located in the At-Tur district of Jerusalem which has a population of about 18,000 mostly Muslim Arabs,
with a small Christian minority.
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Gehenna (Greek γέεννα), Gehinnom (Rabbinical Hebrew: גהנום, גהנם,) and Yiddish Gehinnam, are terms derived
from a place outside ancient Jerusalem known in the Hebrew Bible as the Valley of the Son of Hinnom (Hebrew
גֵי בֶן־הִנֹּם); one of the two principal valleys surrounding the Old City.
In the Hebrew Bible, the site was initially where apostate Israelites and followers of various Ba'als and
false gods, including Moloch, sacrificed their children by fire (2 Chr. 28:3 , 33:6 ; Jer. 7:31 , 19:2-6 .
In both Rabbinical Jewish and early Christian writing, Gehenna as a destination of the wicked is different
from the more neutral Sheol/Hades, the abode of the dead, though English Bibles traditionally translate both
with the Anglo-Saxon concept Hell.
Etymology --
English "Gehenna" represents the Greek Geenna (γεεννα) found in the New Testament, a phonetic transcription
of Aramaic Gēhannā (ܓܗܢܐ), equivalent to the Hebrew Ge Hinnom, literally "Valley of Hinnom". This was known
in the Old Testament as Gai Ben-Hinnom, literally the "Valley of the son of Hinnom", and in the Talmud as
Gehinnam (גהנם) or Gehinnom (גהנום). In the Qur'an, Jahannam (جهنم) is a place of torment for sinners or the
Islamic equivalent of Hell.
Geography --
The exact location of the Valley of Hinnom is disputed. Older commentaries give the location as below the
southern wall of ancient Jerusalem, stretching from the foot of Mount Zion eastward past the Tyropoeon to
the Kidron Valley. However the Tyropoeon Valley is usually no longer associated with the Valley of Hinnom
because during the period of Ahaz and Manasseh, the Tyropoeon lay within the city walls and child sacrifice
would have been practiced outside the walls of the city. Smith (1907),[1] Dalman (1930),[2] Bailey (1986)[3]
and Watson (1992)[4] identify the Wadi er-Rababi, which fits the data of Joshua that Hinnom ran East to West
and lay outside the city walls. According to Joshua, the valley began in En-rogel. If the modern Bir Ayyub
is En-rogel then the Wadi er-Rababi which begins there is Hinnom.[5]
In the King James Version of the Bible, the term appears 13 times in 11 different verses as "valley of
Hinnom," "valley of the son of Hinnom" or "valley of the children of Hinnom."
The concept of Gehenna --
In the Hebrew Bible --
The oldest historical reference to the valley is found in Joshua 15:8 , 18:16 which describe tribal
boundaries.
The next chronological reference to the valley is at the time of King Ahaz of Judah who sacrificed his sons
there according to 2 Chron. 28:3 . Since his legitimate son by the daughter of the High Priest Hezekiah
succeeded him as king, this, if literal, is assumed to mean children by unrecorded pagan wives or
concubines. The same is recorded of Ahaz' grandson Manasseh in 33:6 . There remains debate about whether the
phrase "cause his children to pass through the fire" meant a simple ceremony or the literal child sacrifice.
The Book of Isaiah does not mention Gehenna by name, but the "burning place" 30:33 in which the Assyrian
army are to be destroyed, may be read "Topheth", and the final verse of Isaiah which concerns the corpses of
the same or a similar battle, Isaiah 66:24 , "where their worm does not die" is cited by Jesus in reference
to Gehenna in Mark 9:48 .
In the reign of Josiah a call came from Jeremiah to destroy the shrines in Topheth and to end the practice
Jeremiah 7:31-32 , 32:35 . It is recorded that King Josiah destroyed the shrine of Molech on Topheth, to
prevent anyone sacrificing children there in 2 Kings 23:10 . Despite Josaiah's ending of the practice,
Jeremiah also included a prophecy that Jerusalem itself would be made like Gehenna and Topheth (19:2-6 , 11-
14 ).
A final purely geographical reference is found in Neh. 11:30 to the exiles returning from Babylon camping
from Beersheba to Hinnom.
[edit]In extra-Biblical Documents
There is a lack of direct references to Gehenna in the Apocrypha, Dead Sea Scrolls, Pseudepigrapha and
Philo.
Josephus does not deal with this aspect of the history of the Hinnom Valley in his descriptions of Jerusalem
for a Roman audience. Nor does Josephus make any mention of the tradition commonly reported in older
Christian commentaries that in Roman times fires were kept burning and the valley became the garbage dump of
the city, where the dead bodies of criminals, and the carcasses of animals were thrown. Source references
for this tradition seem to be lacking.
The southwestern gate of Jerusalem, overlooking the valley, came to be known as "The Gate of the Valley"
(Hebrew: שער הגיא)...
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The Tomb of Zechariah is an ancient stone monument adjacent
to the Bnei Hazir tomb.
Architectural description --
The monument is a monolith -- it is completely carved out of
the solid rock and does not contain a burial chamber. The
lowest part of the monument is a crepidoma, a base made of
three steps. Above it there is a stylobate, upon which there
is a decoration of two ionic columns between two half ionic
columns and at the corners there are two pilasters. The
capitals are of the Ionic order and are decorated with the
egg-and-dart decoration. The upper part of the monument is
an Egyptian-style cornice upon which sits a pyramid.
Interestingly the fine masonry and decoration that is
visible on the western side, the facade, is on the western
side alone. On the other sides of the tomb the work is
extremely rough and unfinished; it seems as if the work was
abruptly stopped before the artists could finish the job.
Identification of the tomb --
According to a Jewish tradition, which is first suggested by
the 1215 CE writings of Menahem haHebroni, this is the tomb
of the priest Zechariah Ben Jehoiada, a figure that the Book
of Chronicles claims to have been stoned:
And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of
Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said
unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the
commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? because ye
have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you. And they
conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the
commandment of the king in the court of the house of the
Lord[1]
There is no documentary evidence to validate the traditional
claim, and it does not contain a body as it is a solid
object carved from the rock.[2]
The style of the construction, which includes Hellenic
details such as Ionic columns, is similar to that of the
Bnei Hazir tomb, and several writers think that they are
near-contemporary with one another; scholars specialising in
funerary practices and monuments have ascribed a first
century CE date to the Tomb of Zechariah[3], making it
impossible to be the tomb of the 7th/8th/9th century BCE[4]
Zechariah ben Jehoiada. It has been proposed that the Tomb
of Zechariah is actually the nefesh (a Jewish funerary
monument similar to the Greek stele) for the Bnei Hazir
tomb[5], which is accessed from a rock-cut passage adjacent
to the monument, and which states that it has an adjacent
magnificent structure, an item not otherwise identified.
Read More
Tomb of Absalom (Hebrew: יד אבשלום, Transl. Yad Avshalom;
literally Absalom's Shrine), also called Absalom's Pillar,
is an ancient monumental rock-cut tomb with a conical roof
located in the Kidron Valley in Jerusalem, Israel. Although
traditionally ascribed to Absalom, the rebellious son of
King David of Israel (circa 1000 B.C.E.), recent scholarship
has attributed it to the first century C.E.
Description --
Absalom's Pillar is approximately 47 feet in height.[1] The
lower half of the monument is a solid, monolithic block,
about twenty feet square by twenty-one feet high, surrounded
on three sides by passageways which separate it from the
walls of the cliff of the Mount of Olives. The upper half is
built of ashlar stones and is hollow, with an access hole on
the south side about halfway up. Inside this portion is a
room eight feet square, with unoccupied arcosolia graves on
two sides and a small burial niche.[2]
An analysis of the architectural styles used indicates that
the monument's construction and its first stage of use
happened during the first century C.E.[3]
Traditional attribution --
Absalom's shrine has traditionally been identified as the
monument of Absalom, rebellious son of King David, based on
a verse in the Book of Samuel[4]:
" Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for
himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale: for he said,
I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called
the Monument after his own name: and it is called unto this
day, Absalom's Monument.[5] "
For centuries, it was the custom among passersby-Jews,
Christians and Muslims-to throw stones at the monument.
Residents of Jerusalem would bring their unruly children to
the site to teach them what became of a rebellious son.[4]
The Monument of Absalom existed in the days of Josephus, and
was referred to in his Antiquities.[6]...
Read More
Pool of Siloam (Hebrew: בריכת השילוח) (Breikhat Hashiloah)
is a rock-cut pool on the southern slope of the City of
David, the original site of Jerusalem, located outside the
walls of the Old City to the southeast. The pool was fed by
the waters of the Gihon Spring, carried there by two
aqueducts.
History
The Pool of Siloam is mentioned several times in the Bible.
Isaiah 8:6 mentions the pool's waters, while Isaiah 22:9
ff. references the construction of Hezekiah's tunnel. For
Christians, the pool has additional significance as it is
mentioned in the Gospel of John, as the location to which
Jesus sent a man who had been blind from birth, as part of
the act of healing him.[1]
A substantial remodeling of a nearby pool, thought to be the
Siloam Pool, was constructed in the 5th century, under
Byzantine direction, and is said to have been built at the
behest of the Empress Aelia Eudocia. This pool, having been
somewhat abandoned and left to ruin, partly survives to the
present day; surrounded by a high wall of stones on all
sides (except for an arched entrance to Hezekiah's tunnel –
which was only rediscovered in the 19th century).
[edit]The lower pool
Ancient records report that during the Second Temple period,
there was a lower pool. In the Autumn of 2004, workers
making excavations for the Ir David Foundation, for a sewer
near the present-day pool uncovered stone steps, and almost
immediately Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron (prominent
archaeologists) were on the scene; it very quickly became
obvious to them that these steps were likely to have been
part of the Second Temple period pool. Excavation swiftly
commenced and confirmed the initial supposition; the find
was formally announced on August 9, 2005 and received
substantial international media attention.[2][3] The pool is
less than 70 yards from the edge of the Byzantine
reconstruction of a pool previously thought to be the Siloam
Pool. This small pool collected some of the water as it
emptied there at the southern end of Hezekiah's tunnel. The
water continued on through a channel into the recently
discovered Pool of Siloam. The source of the water is from
the Gihon Spring located at the northern end of Hezekiah's
tunnel on the eastern side of the City of David. An ancient
pool (Upper Pool) existed near the Gihon Spring but was no
longer used after King Hezekiah redirected the waters to the
western side of the city.[4]
The lower pool is not perfectly rectangular, but a soft
trapezoid. There are three sets of five steps, two leading
to a platform, before the bottom is reached, and it has been
suggested that the steps were designed to accommodate
various water levels. The pool is stone lined, but
underneath there is evidence of an earlier version which was
merely plastered (to help it retain water). Coins found
within this plaster date from the time of Alexander Jannaeus
(104-76 BC), while a separate collection of coins, dating
from the time of the Great Revolt (AD 66-70), were also
found.
How much of the pool and its surrounding structures were a
result of monumental construction by Herod the Great is not
yet understood (as of September 2006); nor is the
relationship of this pool to the earlier one (i.e., why it
was built when the earlier pool already existed). A portion
of this pool remains unexcavated, as the land above it is
owned by a nearby Greek Orthodox church and is occupied by
an orchard known as the King's Garden (compare Nehemiah 3:15
).
As a freshwater reservoir, it would have been a major
gathering place for ancient Jews making religious
pilgrimages to the city. The Gospel of John suggests that it
was probably used as a mikvah (ritual bath),[5] although
mikvah are usually much smaller in size; if the pool were a
mikvah, it would be the largest ever found, by a substantial
margin.[6] It is thought that the current structure was
originally the Shrine of the Four Nymphs (Tetranymphon), a
nymphaeum built by Hadrian during the construction of Aelia
Capitolina in 135,[7][8][9] and mentioned in Byzantine works
such as the 7th century Chronicon Paschale; other nymphaeum
built by Hadrian, such as that at Sagalassos, have a very
similar appearance.[10]
Read More
Hezekiah's Tunnel, or the Siloam Tunnel is a tunnel that was
dug underneath the City of David in Jerusalem before 701 BC
during the reign of Hezekiah. The tunnel is mentioned in 2
Kings 20:20 in the Bible. The Bible also tells us that king
Hezekiah prepared Jerusalem to an impending siege by the
Assyrians, by "blocking the source of the waters of the
upper Gihon, and leading them straight down on the west to
the City of David" (II Book of Chronicles chapter 32). The
tunnel has been securely dated both by the written
inscription found on its wall (Siloam Inscription), and by
dating organic matter contained in the original plastering.
[1] It is one of the few intact, 8th century BC structures
in the world that the public can not only visit, but enter
and walk through.
The tunnel, leading from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of
Siloam,[2][3][4] was designed to act as an aqueduct to
provide Jerusalem with water during an impending siege by
the Assyrians, led by Sennacherib. The curving tunnel is 533
m long, and by using a 30 cm (0.6%) gradient altitude
difference between each end, conveyed water along its length
from the spring to the pool.
According to the Siloam inscription, the tunnel was
excavated by two teams, one starting at each end of the
tunnel and then meeting in the middle. The inscription is
partly unreadable at present, and may originally have
conveyed more information than this. It is clear from the
tunnel itself that several directional errors were made
during its construction[5]. Recent scholarship has
discredited the idea that the tunnel may have been formed by
substantially widening a pre-existing natural karst.[6]
The difficult feat of making two teams digging from opposite
ends meet far underground is now understood to have been
accomplished by directing the two teams from above using
sounds generated by hammering on the solid karst through
which the tunnelers were digging.
Function and origin
The ancient city of Jerusalem, being on a mountain, is
naturally defensible from almost all sides, but suffers from
the drawback that its major source of fresh water, the Gihon
spring, is on the side of the cliff overlooking the Kidron
Valley. This presents a major military weakness as the city
walls, if high enough to be defensible, must necessarily
leave the Gihon spring outside, thus leaving the city
without a fresh water supply in case of siege.
The Bible says that King Hezekiah (c. 8th century BC),
fearful that the Assyrians would lay siege to the city,
blocked the spring's water outside the city and diverted it
through a channel into the then Pool of Siloam[8]. However,
it is now known (as of 1997) that the earlier Warren's shaft
system had already heavily fortified the Gihon Spring[9];
Warren's shaft is not an aqueduct, and requires those
desiring water to travel up and down it themselves - an
arrangement that Hezekiah seemingly must have considered
inadequate.
In 1899, an ancient channel, also leading from the Gihon
Spring to the Siloam Pool area, but by a more direct route,
was found. This channel is now known as the Middle Bronze
Age channel, on account of its estimated age. Ronny Reich
determined that it was constructed around 1800 BC (in the
Middle Bronze Age), and thus that the spring's water had
already been diverted many centuries before Hezekiah. As
originally constructed, it is understood as a 20 feet deep
ditch in the ground, covered over by large rock slabs (which
were then hidden in the foliage). It is narrower than the
tunnel, but can still be walked by a human for most of its
length. In addition to the (3 ft high) exit near the Siloam
pool, the channel has several small outlets that watered the
gardens facing the Kidron Valley[10]. Hezekiah's tunnel was
constructed to replace this channel, since a besieging army
could fairly easily have discovered and destroyed the Middle
Bronze Age Channel.
Hezekiah's tunnel, discovered in 1838 by the American
biblical scholar Edward Robinson, can be walked through
today from end to end.
The Bible verses relating to Hezekiah's tunnel are these:
"And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might,
and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water
into the city, are they not written in the book of the
chronicles of the kings of Judah?" 2 Kings 20:20
"And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that
he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, He took counsel
with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of
the fountains which were without the city: and they did help
him. So there was gathered much people together, who stopped
all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst
of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come,
and find much water?" 2 Chronicles 32:2-4
"This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of
Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the
city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works." 2
Chronicles 32:30
Read More
The Gihon Spring was the main source of water for the City
of David, the original site of Jerusalem. One of the world's
major intermittent springs - and a reliable water source
that made human settlement possible in ancient Jerusalem -
the spring was not only used for drinking water, but also
initially for irrigation of gardens in the adjacent Kidron
Valley which provided a food source for the ancient
settlement. The spring being intermittent required the
excavation of the Pool of Siloam which stored the large
amount of water needed for the town when the spring was not
flowing.
Three main water systems allowed water to be brought from
the spring to the city under cover:
The Middle Bronze Age channel - a fairly straight channel
dating from the Middle Bronze Age, cut 20 feet into the
ground, and then covered with slabs (which themselves were
then hidden by foliage). This led from the spring to the
Pool of Siloam and was an aqueduct.
Warren's Shaft - a steep tunnel, dating from slightly later
than the Middle Bronze Age channel, leading from the Well
Gate at the top of Ophel above Gihon, down to the spring.
This passage was for people to travel down in person and
collect water from the spring themselves.
Hezekiah's tunnel - a winding tunnel carved into the rock,
leading from the spring to the Pool of Siloam. Dating from
the time of Hezekiah, and seemingly built in response to the
threat of siege by Sennacherib, it was an aqueduct that
effectively replaced the Middle Bronze Age channel.
In 1997, while a visitor centre was being constructed, the
spring was discovered to have been heavily fortified since
the Middle Bronze Age, when archaeologists unexpectedly
uncovered two monumental towers[1] - one protecting the base
of Warren's Shaft, and the other protecting the spring
itself. Due to the area around the site still being
inhabited, and hence not excavated, it is unknown whether
any further fortifications exist (though a further tower to
the south of that protecting Warren's Shaft is thought
likely).
During an archaeological dig in 2009, a fragment of a
monumental stone inscription securely dated to the eighth
century BCE was discovered. Although only fragments of
Hebrew lettering survive, the fragment proves that the city
had monumental public inscriptions and the corresponding
large public buildings in the eighth century.[2]
The city government of Jerusalem has proposed to restore the
valley floor by replacing illegally built housing with a
park called the Garden of the King through which the waters
of Gihon could flow south along their ancient course.[3][4]
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Warren's Shaft is an archaeological feature in Jerusalem
discovered in 1867 by British engineer Sir Charles Warren
(1840-1927). It runs from within the old city to a spot near
the Gihon Spring, and after its 19th century discovery was
thought to have been the centrepiece of the city's early
water supply system, since it would have enabled the city's
occupants to safely reach fresh water (which was otherwise
unavailable within the city) even if the city itself was
besieged. The narrow and tall shaft was demonstrated to be
traversable when a member of Warren's excavation climbed
from top to base. Since in the Books of Samuel it states
that David conquered Jerusalem from its prior inhabitants
due to Joab sneaking up a similar water shaft and launching
a surprise attack on the city from inside, it was long
thought that Warren's shaft was the shaft in question (with
Hezekiah's tunnel having too late a date, and there being no
other known candidates).
The shaft is composed of four sections in sequence:
a stepped tunnel [1]
horizontal but curved tunnel [2]
a 14 metre high vertical shaft [3]
a feeding tunnel
According to a number of archaeologists, the shaft is simply
a widening of a natural fissure in the rock. The 14 metre
high shaft, which has a pool of water at the base, is now
not actually thought to have been part of the system. In
1998, while a visitor centre was being constructed, builders
discovered that there was an additional passageway, about 2
metres higher and starting from the horizontal curved
tunnel, that skirted the 14 metre vertical shaft, and
continued to a pool much nearer the Gihon spring. The 14
metre shaft is too narrow, and the pool at its base too
shallow, to have been functional, and archaeologists now
believe that it is merely a natural fissure that the
original excavators happened to breach during their dig
towards the other pool. The higher passageway was not
originally higher - at some point Warren's shaft was lowered
(cutting into a geologically distinct type of rock), and ran
into the 14 meter vertical shaft.
The pool reached by the higher passage was protected by a
large tower, which was also discovered by the visitor centre
builders, and is located outside the former city. The pool
connects to the Gihon spring via a narrow channel, and the
Gihon was itself protected by a large tower (also recently
discovered). The pool itself may have been protected by a
second tower, but this is uncertain as excavation of the
southern side of the pool has not yet been carried out,
since it lies under a current residential area.
Ceramics found in the tunnels by these more recent
archaeological excavations firmly date the Warren's shaft
system, and the tower defences, to at least the 18th century
BC. This expressly places it in the time when Canaanites
controlled Jerusalem, and this, together with the guard
towers, expressly rules out the possibility of anyone
sneaking into the city in David's time via the shaft: the
shaft's exit was heavily fortified, as was the Gihon spring.
In essence, conquering the city would have been more a case
of capturing the guard towers and holding the city to ransom
over its water[1]. The Septuagint differs from the masoretic
text: rather than all who wish to attack the Jebusites must
strike at them through the water shaft, it reads all who
wish to attack the Jebusites must strike at them with their
dagger.
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Armenian mosaic - In 1894 an ancient mosaic floor was
discovered in a house at 18 Street of the Prophets, 200 meters
east of Damascus Gate. Known as the "bird mosaic", it depicts
peacocks, ducks, storks, pigeons, an eagle, a partridge, and a
parrot in a cage, along with branches and grape clusters, all
symbols of death in early Christian art. An inscription at the
top of the mosaic reads, "For the memory and salvation of all
those Armenians whose name the Lord knows". Beneath a corner
of the mosaic lay a natural cave containing human bones which
were dated to the 5th or 6th century, indicating that the room
was used as a mortuary chapel
Read More
Jaffa Gate (Hebrew: שער יפו, Sha'ar Yafo; Arabic: باب الخليل, Bab el-Khalil, "Gate of the Friend"; also Arabic, Bab Mihrab Daud, "Gate
of the Prayer Niche of David"; also David's Gate) is a stone portal in the historic walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is one of
eight gates in Jerusalem's Old City walls.
Jaffa Gate is the only one of the Old City gates positioned at a right angle to the wall. This could have been done as a defensive
measure to slow down oncoming attackers,[1] or to orient it in the direction of Jaffa Road, from which pilgrims arrived at the end of
their journey from the port of Jaffa.
Names--
Both the Jaffa Gate and Jaffa Road are named after the port of Jaffa, from whence Jonah embarked on his Biblical sea journey and
pilgrims debarked on their trip to the Holy City. The modern-day Highway 1, which starts from the western end of Jaffa Road, completes
the same route to Tel Aviv-Jaffa.
The Arabic name for the gate, Bab el-Khalil (Gate of the Friend), refers to Abraham, the beloved of God who is buried in Hebron. Since
Abraham lived in Hebron, another name for Jaffa Gate is "Hebron Gate". The Arabs also called this gate Bab Mihrab Daud (Gate of the
Prayer Niche of David), since King David is considered a prophet by Islam. The Crusaders, who rebuilt the citadel to the south of Jaffa
Gate, also built a gate behind the present location of Jaffa Gate, calling it "David's Gate".
Architecture --
Like the stones used for the rest of the Old City walls, the stones of Jaffa Gate are large, hewn, sand-colored blocks.[2] The entryway
stands about 20 feet (6 meters) high, and the wall rises another 20 feet above that.[3]
History --
Jaffa Gate was inaugurated in 1538 as part of the rebuilding of the Old City walls by Suleiman the Magnificent.[2]
These tombs are believed to be those of the architects of the Old City walls.
Just inside the gate, behind an iron grating on the left, lie two tombs. These are believed to be the graves of the two architects whom
Suleiman commissioned to construct the Old City walls. According to legend, when Suleiman saw that the architects had left Mount Zion
and the tomb of King David out of the enclosure, he ordered them killed. However, in deference to their impressive achievement, he had
them buried inside the walls next to Jaffa Gate.[4]
In 1908, a clock tower was built near the gate to serve the developing business district in the area. The tower lasted only a decade: it
was knocked down by the British when they occupied Jerusalem.
In 1917, British general Edmund Allenby entered the Old City through the Jaffa Gate, giving a speech at the nearby Tower of David.
Allenby entered the city on foot in a show of respect for the city and a desire to avoid comparison with the Kaiser's entry in 1898. The
British demolished other buildings adjoining the city wall in 1944 in an attempt to preserve Jerusalem's historic vistas.
During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Israeli forces fought hard to connect the Jewish Quarter of the Old City with Israeli-held western
Jerusalem by controlling the Jaffa Gate. On the evening of May 18, 1948, the Haganah launched a frontal assault on the gate but were
beaten back with heavy losses.[5] With a Jordanian victory in 1948, Israeli forces were not able to gain control of the gate until the
Six Day War in 1967.
In 2000 Pope John Paul II came through Jaffa Gate to the Old City during his visit in Israel in the Holy Year.
Topography --
Inside Jaffa Gate is a small square with entrances to the Christian Quarter (on the left), Muslim Quarter (straight ahead) and the
Armenian Quarter (to the right, past the Tower of David). A tourist information office and shops line the square. The entrance to the
Muslim Quarter is part of the Arab shuk (marketplace).
The gate's location is determined by the city's topography, located along the valley followed by Jaffa Road into the old city, between
the northern hill of the Acra and the southern hill of Mount Zion.[6] The road and the valley it follows continue eastward and down into
the Tyropoeon Valley, bisecting the northern and southern halves of the city, with the Christian and Muslim Quarters to the north, and
Armenian and Jewish Quarters to the south.
Running along the Old City walls south of Jaffa Gate is the Tower of David, a Jerusalem landmark that dates back to antiquity. The
current tower was built during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. It is called the Tower of David because the foundations of the
tower go back to King David's times with the building of the first tower on the site, as described in the Hebrew Bible.
Renovation -
Jaffa Gate is heavily used by pedestrians and vehicles alike. In the early 2000s, the road straddling the gate was moved further west
and a plaza constructed in its stead to connect Jaffa Gate with the soon-to-be-built Mamilla shopping mall across the street.
In 2010, the Israel Antiquities Authority completed a two-month restoration and cleaning of Jaffa Gate as part of a $4 million project
begun in 2007 to renovate the length of the Old City walls.[3] The clean-up included replacing broken stones, cleaning the walls of
decades of car exhaust, and reattaching an elaborate Arabic inscription erected at the gate's original dedication in 1593. Bullet
fragments in the gate, from fighting in the War of Independence, were preserved.[7] Infrastructure work beside Jaffa Gate also uncovered
an ancient aqueduct dating from the second or third century A.D.[8]
Read More
Zion Gate (Hebrew: שער ציון, Shaar Zion, Arabic: باب النبي
داود, Bab an-Nabi Dawud) is one of eight gates in the walls
of the Old City of Jerusalem.
History --
Located in the south of the Old City, facing Mount Zion and
Hebron, the Zion Gate leads into the Armenian and Jewish
Quarters. Zion Gate is also known as David's Gate (Arabic:
Bab el-Daoud; Hebrew: Shaar David), because the tomb of King
David is believed to be on Mt. Zion. The gate was built for
Suleiman the Magnificent in 1540. In the 19th century, an
area close to the gate was the gathering place of lepers.[1]
In the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the Palmach gained control of
the Jewish Quarter via the Zion Gate. The stones surrounding
the gate were pockmarked by weapons fire and bullet holes
that are still visible today. The last British troops
leaving Jerusalem on May 13, 1948, presented Mordechai
Weingarten with the key to the gate. The gate was under the
rule of Jordan until the Six-Day War.
Both pedestrians and vehicles use the gate, although
maneuvering is difficult due to the L-shaped passageway.
Until recently, there was two-way vehicular traffic passing
through the gate. Today cars can exit but not enter the Old
City via this gate.
Read More
The Dung Gate (also known as Sha'ar Ha'ashpot, Gate of
Silwan, Mograbi Gate, Arabic: باب المغاربة) is one of the
gates in the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.
The gate is situated near the southeast corner of the old
city, southwest of the Temple Mount.
The gate is the closest to the Western Wall and is a main
passage for vehicles. It was originally much smaller, but
was enlarged in 1952, after the Old City came under
Jordanian control in 1948. After its capture by Israel in
1967, architect Shlomo Aronson was commissioned to renovate
this gate.[1] Directly behind the gate lies the entrance to
the Western Wall compound. At night, Egged city buses pass
through the gate to the Western Wall bus stop, which lies
just behind the gate; during the day, the buses stop on the
road outside the gate, because the increased number of buses
had cluttered up the bus stop inside the Old City walls.
Name --
The name Sha'ar Ha'ashpot appears in the Book of
Nehemiah:3:13-14. It is probably named after the residue
that was taken from the Jewish Temple into the Valley of
Hinnom, where it was burned. This ancient "Dung Gate" may
not have been in the same location as the modern gate.
The name Mograbi gate (Bab al-Magharibeh) refers to the
Moroccan Quarter or (Mughrabi quarter) now destructed, which
was situated near the area.
Read More
The Lions' Gate (Hebrew: שער האריות, Arabic: باب الأسباط,
also St. Stephen's Gate or Sheep Gate) is located in the Old
City Walls of Jerusalem and is one of seven open Gates in
Jerusalem's Old City Walls.
Located in the east wall, the entrance marks the beginning
of the traditional Christian observance of the last walk of
Jesus from prison to crucifixion, the Via Dolorosa. Near the
gate’s crest are four figures of panthers, often mistaken
for lions, two on the left and two on the right. They were
placed there by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent to celebrate
the Ottoman defeat of the Mamluks in 1517. Legend has it
that Suleiman's predecessor Selim I was captured by lions
that were going to eat him because of his plans to level the
city. He was spared only after promising to protect the city
by building a wall around it. This led to the lion becoming
the heraldic symbol of Jerusalem.[2]
In another version,[citation needed] Suleiman taxed
Jerusalem's residents with heavy taxes which they could not
afford to pay. That night Suleiman had a dream of two lions
coming to devour him. When he woke up, he asked his dream
solvers what his dream meant. A wise respected man came
forward and asked Suleiman what was on his mind before
drifting to sleep. Suleiman responded that he was thinking
about how to punish all the men who didn't pay his taxes.
The wise man responded that since Suleiman thought badly
about the holy city, God was angry. To atone, Suleiman built
the Lions' Gate to protect Jerusalem from invaders.
Israeli paratroops from the 55th Paratroop Brigade came
through this gate during the Six-Day War of 1967 and
unfurled the Israeli flag above the Temple Mount.
The Lions' Gate is not to be confused with the Zion Gate in
the Old City Wall, located in the south, leading to the
Jewish and Armenian Quarters.
The magnificent walls of Jerusalem's Old City were built by
the Ottoman Empire under the direct supervision of Sultan
Suleiman in 1542. The walls stretch for approximately 4.5
kilometers (2.8 miles) and rise to a height of 5–15 meters
(16–49 feet), with a thickness of 3 meters (10 feet).[3]
Altogether, the Old City walls contain 43 surveillance
towers and 11 gates, seven of which are presently open.
Read More
Herod's Gate (Hebrew: שער הפרחים Translit.: Sha'ar
HaPerachim Translated: Gate of the flowers, Arabic: باب
الساهرة) is a gate in the walls of the Old City of
Jerusalem. Its elevation is 755 meters above sea level. It
adjoins the Muslim Quarter, and is a short distance to the
east of the Damascus Gate. In proximity to the gate is an
Arab neighborhood called Bab a-Zahara, a variation of the
Arabic name for the gate.
This modest gate is one of the newest gates of Jerusalem. At
the time when Suleiman the Magnificent built the wall, a
small wicket gate was situated in front of the current gate,
which was rarely opened. By 1875, in order to provide a
passageway to the neighborhoods which were beginning to
develop north of the Old City, the Ottomans made a breach in
the northern part of the structure and closed the original
opening.
The gate is named after Herod the Great. That is because in
the Crusaders' period a church was built near the gate in
the belief that at the time of the Crucifixion of Jesus,
Herod Antipas's house was situated at that spot. In its
place today stands the church of Dir Al Ads.
In 1998 and during several subsequent excavation seasons
(the latest in 2004), archaeologists of the Israel
Antiquities Authority dug in the eastern area of Herod's
Gate. The digging focused on three separate areas adjacent
to the wall, in which nine archeological layers were
discovered – covering from the Iron age up through the
Turkish period. Among the most significant discoveries were
structures from the period of the Second Temple, a complete
segment of the Byzantine-Roman wall, and remnants of massive
construction underneath the wall. These remnants were
identified as portions of a fortification from the ancient
Muslim period and from the Middle Ages. These discoveries
point out the importance which the rulers of the city gave
to the fortification of one of its most sensitive places-the
northern wall of Jerusalem-as historical accounts indicate
that circa 1099 the Crusader soldiers in the command of
Godfrey of Bouillon entered the city through a breach
located in proximity to the present Herod's Gate.
Read More
The Damascus Gate (also known as Shechem Gate or Nablus
Gate) (Hebrew: שער שכם, Sha'ar Shkhem, Arabic: باب العامود,
Bab-al-Amud, meaning Gate of the Column) is an important
gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. The modern gate was built
in 1542 by the Ottoman ruler Suleiman the Magnificent.
The original gate was presumably built in Second Temple
times. The Romans built a new gate at the time of Hadrian,
in the second century AD. In front of the gate stood a Roman
victory column, shown on the Madaba Map, thus giving the
gate its name in Arabic to this day, Bab el-Amud, The Column
Gate. The column has never been found, but the Roman gate
can be seen today, due to excavations made during the
British mandate. This was the northern entrance gate to the
city at the time of the Crusades.
The gate has two towers, each equipped with machicolations.
It is located at the edge of the Arab bazaar and
marketplace. In contrast to the Jaffa Gate, where stairs
rise towards the gate, in the Damascus Gate, the stairs
descend towards the gate. In 1972, right-wing activist rabbi
Meir Kahane proposed that a mezuzah be affixed to the gate,
to secure the Jewish claim to the gate. After repeated
protests from Arab residents, the Israeli government refused
to consider Kahane's proposal. Today, only three of the Old
City's gates have mezuzot attached.[citation needed]
While the proper English name of the gate is "Damascus
Gate", in Hebrew it is called Sha'ar Shechem, meaning
"Shechem (Nablus) Gate". Israeli media therefore frequently
refer to the gate as 'Shechem (Nablus) Gate' in English
language publications as well.[1] In either case, the name
refers to a city north of Jerusalem, since the Damascus Gate
is the main north-facing gate of the Old City.
Read More
The New Gate (Arabic: باب الجديد Bab al-Jedid; Hebrew: השער
החדש HaSha'ar HeChadash) is the newest gate in Jerusalem's Old
City Walls, built in 1898 to provide direct access to the
Christian Quarter for the visit of the German Emperor William
II.
It is also called the Gate of Hammid after the Ottoman Sultan
Abdul Hamid II. The gate is located in the northwestern part
of the wall and faces north.
During the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, when Jordan captured East
Jerusalem (which includes the Old City of Jerusalem) it was
sealed off. It was reopened again in 1967 after Israel's
capture of East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War.
Read More
During the era of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, there
were four gates to the Old City, one on each side. The current
walls, built by Suleiman the Magnificent, have a total of
eleven gates, but only seven are open. Until 1887, each gate
was closed before sunset and opened at sunrise. As indicated
by the chart below, these gates have been known by a variety
of names used in different historic periods and by different
community groups.
Read More
The Pool of Bethesda is a pool in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem, on the path of the Beth Zeta Valley. The Gospel of John
describes such a pool in Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. It is associated with
healing. Until the 19th century, there was no evidence outside of John’s Gospel for the existence of this pool. Scholars argued
that the gospel was written later, probably by someone without first-hand knowledge of the city of Jerusalem, and that the
‘pool’ had only a metaphorical meaning, rather than historical, significance. [1]
Then in the nineteenth century, archaeologists discovered the remains of a pool exactly matching the description in John’s
Gospel. Thus, archeology has confirmed the historical verisimilitude of John’s account.[2]
Name --
The name of the pool is said to be derived from the Aramaic language beth hesda (בית חסדא), meaning either house of mercy[3] or
house of grace. In the closely related Syriac branch of this ancient language, the cognate term hesdo has two opposite meanings
- grace and disgrace;[4][5][6] this dual meaning may have been thought appropriate since the location was seen as a place of
disgrace due to the presence of invalids, and a place of grace, due to the granting of healing.[7][8][9][10]
Alternative renderings of the name, appearing in manuscripts of the Gospel of John, include Beth-zatha[11] and Bethsaida (not
to be confused with Bethsaida, a town in the Galilee), although the latter is considered to be a metathetical corruption by
Biblical scholars.[12]
Pool of Bethesda and the Historical Jesus --
The Pool of Bethesda has been an area of controversy for Christian historians and archaeologists alike. According to the Gospel
of John, Bethesda was a swimming bath (Greek: kolumbethra) with five porticos (translated as porches by older English bible
translations). [13] [14]
Gospel of John --
The Johannine narrative describes the porticos as being a place in which large numbers of infirm people were waiting, which
corresponds well with the site's first century use as an asclepieion. Some ancient biblical manuscripts argue that these people
were waiting for the troubling of the water;[15] a few such manuscripts also move the setting away from Roman rituals into
something more appropriate to Judaism, by adding that an angel would occasionally stir the waters, which would then cure the
first person to enter.[16] Although the Vulgate does not include the troubling of the water or the 'angel tradition', these
were present in many of the manuscripts used by early English translations of the Bible, who therefore included it in their
translations. Modern textual scholarship views these extra details as unreliable and unlikely to have been part of the original
text; many modern translations do not include the troubling of the water or the 'angel tradition', but leave the earlier
numbering system, so that they skip from verse 3a straight to verse 5.[17] [18]
The biblical narrative continues by describing a Shabbat visit to the site by Jesus, during which he heals a man who has been
bedridden for many years, and could not make his own way into the pool.[19] Some scholars have suggested that the narrative is
actually part of a deliberate polemic against the Asclepius cult, an antagonism possibly partly brought on by the fact that
Asclepius was worshipped as Saviour (Greek: Soter), in reference to his healing attributes.[20] The narrative uses the Greek
phrase hygies genesthai,[21] which is not used anywhere in the Synoptic Gospels, but appears frequently in ancient testimonies
to the healing powers of Asclepius;[20] the later narrative in the Gospel of John about Jesus washing Simon Peter's feet at the
Last Supper,[22] similarly uses the Greek term goyein,[23] which is a special term for washing in an Asclepieion,[20] rather
than the Greek word used elsewhere in the Johannine text to describe washing - niptein.[24]
Archaeology --
Displayed in the west transept of St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Memphis, Tennessee, this stone is part of one of the
columns of the balustrade that surrounded the Pool of Bethesda.
Prior to archaeological digs, the Pool of Bethesda was identified with the modern so-called Fountain of the Virgin, in the
Kidron Valley, not far from the Pool of Siloam, and alternately with the Birket Israel, a pool near the mouth of the valley
which runs into the Kidron south of St. Stephen's Gate. Others identified it with the twin pools then called the Souterrains
(French: Subterranean), under the Convent of the Sisters of Zion;[3] subsequent archaeological investigation of the area has
determined these to actually be the Strouthion Pool.[25]
In digs conducted in the 19th Century, Schick discovered a large tank situated about 100 feet north-west of St. Anne's Church,
which he contended was the Pool of Bethesda. Further archaeological excavation in the area, in 1964, discovered the remains of
the Byzantine and Crusader churches, Hadrian's Temple of Asclepius and Serapis, the small healing pools of the Asclepieion, the
other of the two large pools, and the dam between them.[26] It was discovered that the Byzantine construction was built in the
very heart of Hadrian's construction, and contained the healing pools.[27] [26]
[edit]Conclusion
This archaeological discovery proved beyond a doubt that the description of this pool in the Gospel of John was not the
creation of the Evangelist. It reflected an accurate and detailed knowledge of the site. The Gospel speaks of (a) the name of
the pool as Bethesda; (b) its location near the Sheep Gate; (c) the fact that it has five porticos; with rushing water. All
these details are corroborated through literary and archaeological evidence affirming the historical accuracy of the Johannine
account.[28]
History --
The history of the pool began in the eighth century BC, when a dam was built across the short Beth Zeta valley, turning it into
a reservoir for rain water;[29][30][31] a sluice-gate in the dam allowed the height to be controlled, and a rock-cut channel
brought a steady stream of water from the reservoir into the city[29] The reservoir became known as the Upper Pool (בריכה
העליונה). Around 200 BC, during the period in which Simon II was the Jewish High Priest, the channel was enclosed, and a second
pool was added on the south side of the dam;[29][30][31] although popular legend argues that this pool was used for washing
sheep, this is very unlikely due to the pool's use as a water supply, and its extreme depth (13m).
In the first century BC, natural caves to the east of the two pools were turned into small baths, as part of an asclepieion;
[29][32] however, the Mishnah implies that at least one of these new pools was sacred to Fortuna,[33] the goddess of fortune,
rather than Asclepius, the god of healing.[34] Scholars think it likely that this development was founded by the Roman garrison
of the nearby Antonia Fortress;[29], who would also have been able to protect it from attack[32] the location of the
asclepieion, outside the then city walls, would have made its presence tolerable to the Jews, who might otherwise have objected
to a non-Jewish religious presence in their holy city.[32]
In the mid first century AD, Herod Agrippa expanded the city walls, bringing the asclepieion into the city. When Hadrian
rebuilt Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina, he placed a roadway along the dam, and expanded the asclepieion into a large temple to
Asclepius and Serapis.[29] In the Byzantine era, the asclepieion was converted to a church.
After the Crusader conquest of Jerusalem, the church buildings were rebuilt on a much smaller scale, but when Saladin regained
control of the city it was transformed into a school for Shafi`i fiqh. Gradually the buildings fell into ruin, becoming a
midden. In the early 19th century, the Ottoman Empire, as an act of gratitude, offered Queen Victoria the choice of the
possessing the Bethesda site or Cyprus; the Anglican church lobbied for the Bethesda site, but Victoria chose Cyprus, so in
1856, the Ottomans gifted the site to France instead. The French constructed the Church of Saint Anne, at the south east corner
of the site, leaving the ancient ruins untouched.
Scripture --
The Upper Pool is mentioned in the Book of Kings (in a passage also repeated by the Book of Isaiah):[35]
And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rab-saris and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a great army unto
Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper
pool, which is in the highway of the fullers' field.[36]
It is also mentioned in an earlier part of the Book of Isaiah:
Then said the LORD unto Isaiah: 'Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shear-jashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the
upper pool, in the highway of the fullers' field.[37]
Read More
The Tower of David (Hebrew: מגדל דוד, Migdal David, Arabic:
برج داود, Burj Daud) is an ancient citadel located near the
Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem.
Built to strengthen a strategically weak point in the Old
City's defenses, the citadel was constructed during the
second century BCE and subsequently destroyed and rebuilt
by, in succession, the Christian, Muslim, Mamluk, and
Ottoman conquerors of Jerusalem. It contains important
archaeological finds dating back 2,700 years, and is a
popular venue for benefit events, craft shows, concerts, and
sound-and-light performances.
The name "Tower of David" is only accurate in the historical
sense, as King David's original tower and fortifications
were destroyed to the foundation several hundred years
before this tower was reconstructed on them and rebuilt
continuously.
History --
During the second century BC, the Old City of Jerusalem
expanded onto the so-called Western Hill. This 773-meter-
high prominence, which comprises the modern Armenian and
Jewish Quarters as well as Mount Zion, was bounded by steep
valleys on all sides except for its northwest corner. After
King David and his son the legendary King Solomon's initial
fortifications, King Hezekiah may have been the first to
specifically fortify this area. Centuries later, the
Hasmonean kings surrounded the area with an impressive wall
and large watchtowers, which historian Josephus Flavius (1st
century AD) refers to as the First Wall.
Herod, who assumed power after the fall of the Hasmonean
dynasty, added three massive towers to the fortifications in
37–34 BC. He built these at the vulnerable northwest corner
of the Western Hill, where the Tower of David is now
located. His purpose was not only to defend the city, but to
safeguard his own royal palace located nearby on Mount Zion.
Herod named the tallest of the towers, 145 feet in height,
the Phasael in memory of his brother who had committed
suicide. Another tower was called the Miriam, named for his
second wife whom he had executed and buried in a cave to the
west of the tower. He named the third tower the Hippicus
after one of his friends. Of the three towers, only the
Phasael still stands today.
Following the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70
AD, the site served as barracks for the Roman troops. When
the Roman Empire adopted Christianity as the imperial
religion in the 4th century, a community of monks
established itself in the citadel.
After the Arab conquest of Jerusalem in 638, the new Muslim
rulers refurbished the citadel. This powerful structure
withstood the assault of the Crusaders in 1099, and
surrendered only when its defenders were guaranteed safe
passage out of the city.
During the Crusader period, thousands of pilgrims undertook
the pilgrimage to Jerusalem by way of the port at Jaffa. To
protect pilgrims from the menace of highway robbers, the
Crusaders built a tower surrounded by a moat atop the
citadel, and posted lookouts to guard the road to Jaffa. The
citadel also served as the seat of the Crusader kings of
Jerusalem.
In 1187, Sultan Saladin captured the city and the site. The
Mamluks destroyed it in 1260 and later rebuilt it. The
citadel was rebuilt yet again between 1537 and 1541 by the
Ottomans, who designed an impressive entrance, behind which
stood a cannon emplacement. For 400 years, the citadel
served as a garrison for Turkish troops. The Ottomans also
installed a mosque at the site and added the minaret, which
still stands today. It was during this time that the complex
began to be called the "Tower of David", after the founder-
king of Jerusalem.
During World War I, British forces under General Edmund
Allenby captured Jerusalem. General Allenby formally
proclaimed the event standing on a platform outside the
entrance to the Tower of David.
During the period of the British Mandate (1917–1948), the
British High Commissioner established the Pro-Jerusalem
Society to protect the city's cultural heritage. This
organization cleaned and renovated the citadel and reopened
it to the public as a venue for concerts, benefit events and
exhibitions by local artists. In the 1930s, a museum of
Palestinian folklore was opened in the citadel, displaying
traditional crafts and clothing.[1]
Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the Arab Legion
captured Jerusalem and converted the citadel back to its
historical role as a military position, as it commanded a
dominant view across the armistice line into Jewish
Jerusalem. With the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967
after the Six-Day War, the citadel's cultural role was
revived.
Tower of David Museum --
The Tower of David Museum of the History of Jerusalem was
opened in 1989 by the Jerusalem Foundation. Located in a
series of chambers in the original citadel, the museum
includes a courtyard which contains archeological ruins
dating back 2,700 years.
The exhibits depict 4,000 years of Jerusalem's history, from
its beginnings as a Canaanite city to modern times. Using
maps, videotapes, holograms, drawings and models, the
exhibit rooms each depict Jerusalem under its various
rulers. Visitors may also ascend to the ramparts, which
command a 360-degree view of the Old City and New City of
Jerusalem.
As of 2002, the Jerusalem Foundation reported that over 3.5
million visitors had toured the museum.
Read More
The Church of the Visitation honors the visit paid by Mary,
Jesus' mother, to Elizabeth, John the Baptist's mother.
(Luke 1:39-56 ) This is the site where tradition tells us
that Mary recited her song of praise, the Magnificat. The
church is beautifully adorned with tiled representations of
that canticle in many of the worlds languages.
History --
The present structure is the older of two churches located
at Ein Kerem, in present day Israel. Tradition attributes
its construction to Empress Helena of Constantinople,
Constantine I's mother, who identified the site as the home
of Zechariah and the place where he and Elizabeth hid from
Herod's soldiers.
Later, Christian Crusaders also recognized it as the site
where the meeting between Elizabeth and her cousin Mary took
place, and erected a two-story church on the site of the
ancient ruins. When the Crusaders left the Holy Land, the
church fell into Muslim hands and gradually deteriorated.
An ancient cistern from which, according to tradition,
Zechariah and Elizabeth drank, can also be found in the
church; the stone next to it is said to have hid the two
from Herod's soldiers. The upper hall is dedicated to Mary,
and its walls are decorated with paintings in honor of her.
Verses from the Magnificat are engraved on the columns of
the church, and on the wall opposite it are forty-two
ceramic tablets bearing verses from the Magnificat in forty-
two different languages. On the church's facade is a
striking mosaic commemorating the Visitation.
Design & Construction --
The Franciscans purchased the building in 1679, but only
began reconstruction of the lower level of the church in
1862. Design and construction of the upper level of the
structure began in 1938, and was completed by Italian
architect Antonio Barluzzi in 1955. The interior of the
church holds Italianate frescoes depicting the Visitation,
Elizabeth hiding her son John the Baptist, and Zechariah
next to the altar in the temple. Also preserved are remains
of the ancient church and beautiful mosaic floors. The
church is currently held in trust by the Franciscan Custody
of the Holy Land.
Read More
The location of Herod's tomb is documented by Roman
historian Flavius Josephus, who writes, "And the body was
carried two hundred furlongs, to Herodium, where he had
given order to be buried."[36]
Flavius Josephus provides more clues about Herod's tomb
which he calls Herod's monuments:
So they threw down all the hedges and walls which the
inhabitants had made about their gardens and groves of
trees, and cut down all the fruit trees that lay between
them and the wall of the city, and filled up all the hollow
places and the chasms, and demolished the rocky precipices
with iron instruments; and thereby made all the place level
from Scopus to Herod's monuments, which adjoined to the pool
called the Serpent's Pool.[37]
Professor Ehud Netzer, an archaeologist from Hebrew
University, read the writings of Josephus and focused his
search on the vicinity of the pool and its surroundings at
the Winter Palace of Herod in the Judean desert. An article
of the New York Times states,
Lower Herodium consists of the remains of a large palace, a
race track, service quarters, and a monumental building
whose function is still a mystery. Perhaps, says Ehud
Netzer, who excavated the site, it is Herod's mausoleum.
Next to it is a pool, almost twice as large as modern
Olympic-size pools.[38]
It took 35 years for Netzer to identify the exact location,
but on May 7, 2007, an Israeli team of archaeologists of the
Hebrew University led by Netzer, announced they had
discovered the tomb.[39][40][41][42][43] The site is located
at the exact location given by Flavius Josephus, atop of
tunnels and water pools, at a flattened desert site, halfway
up the hill to Herodium, 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) south of
Jerusalem.[44] The tomb contained a broken sarcophagus but
no remains of a body.
Read More
A rock-cut tomb discovered in Jerusalem's Rehavia neighborhood
has been identified as the burial site of Jason.[4] It
consists of a courtyard and a single Doric column decorating
the entrance to the burial chamber, topped with a pyramid-
shaped roof. On the walls are charcoal drawings of naval
vessels. Among the carved inscriptions in Greek and Aramaic is
one that laments the deceased Jason: "A powerful lament make
for Jason, son of P.....(my brother) peace ...... who hast
built thyself a tomb, Elder rest in peace." [5]
Read More
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem (Hebrew: מוזיאון ישראל,ירושלים, Muze'on Yisrael,
Yerushalim) was founded in 1965 as Israel's national museum. It is situated on a hill
in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, near the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme
Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek was the driving spirit behind the establishment of the
museum, one of the leading art and archaeology museums in the world. The Museum has
extensive collections of biblical archaeology, Judaica, ethnography, fine art,
artifacts from Africa, North and South America, Oceania and the Far East, rare
manuscripts, ancient glass and sculpture. A uniquely designed building on the grounds
of the museum, the Shrine of the Book, houses the Dead Sea Scrolls and artifacts
discovered at Masada. The museum's holding include 500,000 objects with some 7,000
objects and works currently online .
The director of the museum is James Snyder, former Deputy Director of the Museum of
Modern Art in New York, who was appointed in 1997. [1]
The museum covers nearly 50,000 sq. meters. It attracts 800,000 visitors a year
including 100,000 children to its Youth Wing.[2] The Samuel Bronfman Biblical and
Archaeological Museum, which is a part of the museum complex, contains various
archaeological finds. It has the largest collection of artifacts from Israel in the
world.[3]
Shrine of the Book --
The Shrine of the Book houses the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered 1947–56 in 11 caves in
and around the Wadi Qumran. An elaborate planning process of seven years led to the
building's eventual construction in 1965 which was funded by the family of David
Samuel Gottesman, the Hungarian émigré, the philanthropist who had purchased the
scrolls as a gift to the State of Israel.[4]
The shrine is built as a white dome, covering a structure placed two-thirds below the
ground. The dome is reflected in a pool of water that surrounds it. Across from the
white dome is a black basalt wall.[5] The colors and shapes of the building are based
on the imagery of the Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of
Darkness, whereas the white dome symbolizes the Sons of Light and the black wall
symbolizes the Sons of Darkness. The interior of the shrine was designed to depict
the environment in which the scrolls were found.[3] There is also a permanent display
on life in the Qumran, where the scrolls were written.[3] The entire structure was
designed to resemble a pot in which the scrolls were found.[5] It was designed by
Austrian architect Fredrick Kiesler and opened in 1965.[5]
As the fragility of the scrolls makes it impossible to display all on a continuous
basis, a system of rotation is used. After a scroll has been exhibited for 3–6
months, it is removed from its showcase and placed temporarily in a special
storeroom, where it "rests" from exposure. The museum also holds other rare ancient
manuscripts and displays The Aleppo Codex, which is from the 10th-century and is
believed to be the oldest complete Bible in Hebrew.[3]
Second Temple model --
One of the recent additions to the Museum is the Second Temple Era model of
Jerusalem. The model reconstructs the topography and architectural character of the
city as it was prior to 66 CE, the year in which the Great Revolt against the Romans
erupted, leading to the eventual destruction of the city and the Temple. Originally
constructed on the grounds of Jerusalem’s Holyland Hotel, the model, which includes a
replica of the Herod's Temple, is now a permanent feature of the Museum’s 20-acre
(81,000 m2) campus, adjacent to the Shrine of the Book.[6]...
Read More
The Monastery of the Cross (Georgian: ჯვრის მონასტერი, Hebrew:
מנזר המצלבה Minzar HaMatzlevah) is a monastery near the Nayot
neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel. It is located in the Valley
of the Cross, below the Israel Museum and the Knesset.
History
The monastery was built in the 11th century, during the reign
of King Bagrat IV by the Georgian Giorgi-Prokhore of
Shavsheti. It is believed that the site was originally
consecrated in the 4th century under the instruction of the
Roman emperor Constantine the Great, who later gave the site
to the Georgian King Mirian III of Iberia after the conversion
of his country to Christianity in 327 A.D. [1]
Legend has it that the monastery was erected on the burial
spot of Adam's head - though two other locations in Jerusalem
also claim this honor - from which grew the tree that gave its
wood to the cross on which Christ was crucified.[2]
The monastery is currently occupied by monks of the Jerusalem
Patriarchate...
Read More
Zedekiah's Cave – also known as Solomon's Quarries – is a 5-acre (20,000 m2) underground meleke
limestone quarry that runs the length of five city blocks under the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of
Jerusalem. It was carved over a period of several thousand years and is a remnant of the biggest
quarry in Jerusalem, having once stretched all the way from Jeremiah's Grotto and the Garden Tomb – a
traditional Protestant site of Jesus's burial – to the walls of the Old City. [1]
Names -
In addition to Zedekiah's Cave and Solomon's Quarries, this site has been called Zedekiah's Grotto,
Suleiman's Cave, the Royal Caverns (or Royal Caves or Royal Quarries), and Korah's Cave. The Arabic
name Migharat al-Kitan, or "Cotton Cave", has also been used; the cavern is thought to have been once
used as a storage place for cotton[2].
Description -
The entrance to Zedekiah's Cave is just beneath the Old City wall, between the Damascus and Herod
Gates, about 500 feet (150 m) east of the former. Beyond the narrow entrance, the cave slopes down
into a vast 300-foot-long auditorium-like chamber. Drops of water, known as "Zedekiah's tears",
trickle through the ceiling (See below for the legend associating the cave with King Zedekiah.)
Beyond the "auditorium", are a series of artificial galleries hewn by ancient stonecutters into
chaotic, sometimes bizarre, patterns and formations. Paths give access to every corner of the quarry
system, which takes at least 30 minutes to explore thoroughly. Chisel marks are visible in many
sections and in some galleries huge, nearly finished building blocks destined for some long-ago
structure are locked into the rock where the stonecutters left them centuries ago. In a few places the
stones are marked by Arabic, Greek, Armenian and English charcoal and engraved graffiti (e.g., "W. E.
Blackstone Jan. 1889"). Several plaques explaining some of the myriad legends associated with the site
have been mounted on the cave walls.
From entrance to the furthest point, the cave extends about 650 feet (200 m). Its maximum width is
about 330 feet (100 m) and its depth is generally about 30 feet (9.1 m) below the street level of the
Muslim Quarter.
History -
Only the mouth of Zedekiah's Cave is a natural phenomenon. The interior of the cavern was carved by
slaves and laborers over a period of several thousand years; precisely when quarrying began is
impossible to determine.
Herod the Great (73 BC – 4 BC) certainly used the main quarry at Zedekiah's Cave for building blocks
in the renovation of the Temple and its retaining walls, including what is known today as the Western
(Wailing) Wall. Stone from the quarry may also have been utilized for the building projects of Herod
Agrippa I (10 BC - 44 AD). The subterranean quarry would have been usable in all seasons and any
weather. [3].
When the Roman Jewish writer Flavius Josephus (37 - 100 AD) mentions the "Royal Caverns" of the Old
City[4], it is thought that he is probably referring to Zedekiah's Cave.
The midrash known as Numbers Rabbah (1512) mentions (and exaggerates) the cave when it says that "One
who observed the Sabbath in a cave, even though it be like the cave of Zedekiah, which was eighteen
miles long, may walk through the whole of it..."[5].
Suleiman the Magnificent (1494-1566), the Ottoman sultan who built the present walls around the Old
City, also apparently mined the quarry, ultimately sealing it up around 1540 because of security
concerns.
Early 20th century
The site was then lost to history for over 300 years until, in 1854, the American missionary James
Turner Barclay was walking his dog one day. According to the story, the dog, following a fox’s scent,
dug through dirt near the Old City wall and suddenly disappeared through an opening. After nightfall,
Barclay and his two sons, dressed in Arab garb and carrying candles, slithered through the newly
opened crack to discover the vast cavern as well as the skeletons of previous visitors. [6]
The Freemasons of Israel hold an annual ceremony in Zedekiah's Cave, and consider it one of the most
revered sites in their history. (Masonic ritual claims that King Solomon was their first Grand Master
- and some Freemasons feel that the cave is definitely Solomon's quarry[3].) According to Matti
Shelon, head of the Israeli Freemasons, "Since the 1860s we have been holding ceremonies in the cave"
[3]. According to the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the State of Israel, the site "has special
meaning for Mark Master Masons and the Royal Arch Masons in particular". Starting in the days of the
British Mandate (1920s), the cave was used for the ceremony of Mark Master Masons. Although this
practice was temporarily suspended between the years 1948 and 1968, the impressive ceremony of the
consecration of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the State of Israel was commenced again in the
spring of 1969, and ever since then the Mark degree has been performed in the caves on the average of
once a year. [7]
In 1873, French archeologist Charles Clermont-Ganneau uncovered a crude carving of a cherub in a small
niche in the cave. It had two long narrow wings that opened like a pair of scissors, a curled tail and
a bearded human head under a conical headdress. (The site is now marked by a plaque.) As cherubs were
a popular Old Testament motif (especially famous are the two giant cherubs flanking the Holy Ark in
Solomon's Temple), the cherub graffiti has been advanced as evidence that the quarry dates from the
time of Solomon. [3].
In the mid-1880s, the cave was occupied by a German religious sect which was eventually evacuated by
the German Consul in Jerusalem after many of the group fell ill from living in the damp, unsanitary
conditions. [8]
Minor quarrying occurred in 1907 when stone was obtained to be used in the Turkish clock tower over
the Jaffa Gate. Otherwise, the site was not frequented again until the 1920s, when it began to be
something of a tourist attraction .
[edit]Recent developments
In the late 20th Century, the East Jerusalem Development Corporation carried out restorations of the
cave.
In the mid-1980s, The Jerusalem Foundation built paths and installed lights throughout the cavern,
facilitating tourist access.
The cave is open daily from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. and an entrance fee is charged. Visits may be self-guided
or part of an organized tour of the Old City.
Legends -
The most revered legend about the cave is that it served as the quarry for King Solomon’s First
Temple. However, there is no historical or archeological evidence to support this. (The meleke
limestone of the quarry– which is strong, well suited to carving, and resistant to erosion – is
thought to have been used for royal buildings. The name "meleke" is derived from Hebrew and Arabic
words meaning "kingly" or "royal".)
Writing in the 10th Century A.D., Moslem geographer and writer el-Mukaddasi said: "There is at
Jerusalem, outside the city, a huge cavern. According to what I have heard from learned men, and also
have read in books, it leads into the place where lie the people slain by Moses. But there is no
surety in this, for apparently it is but a stone quarry, with passages leading therefrom, along which
one may go with torches." The "people slain by Moses" refers to a story that appears in both the Bible
and the Koran about a man named Korah (Arabic, Karun) who mounted a revolt against Moses and his
brother Aaron, maintaining that they had led the children of Israel out of Egypt under false
pretenses. According to the Old Testament, Korah and his fellow rebels were swallowed up by the earth;
according to el-Mukaddasi, this occurred at what is now known as Zedekiah's Cave.
The legend that the cave was a hiding place of King Zedekiah (a 6th Century BC Judean king[9]) dates
back to at least the 11th Century AD. At that time, Biblical commentator Rashi wrote that Zedekiah
tried to escape from the troops sent by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar to besiege Jerusalem. (The
story was also repeated in the next century by the commentator Radak.) According to Rashi: "There was
a cave from the palace of Zedekiah to the plain of Jericho and he fled through the cave." He added
that God sent a buck running along the surface on top of the cave as Zedekiah was walking down below.
The soldiers chased the buck and arrived at the exit of the cave just as Zedekiah was coming out,
enabling them to capture and blind him. Thus was born the legend and name of "Zedekiah's Cave". (The
considerable distance between Jerusalem and Jericho - about 13 miles (21 km) - reflects the legendary
nature of the story.)
In 1968, an Arab from East Jerusalem contacted the Israeli Ministry of Finance with a claim that,
during the Ottoman period, his grandfather had buried three cases of gold in Zedekiah's Cave . He
claimed he could show officials where the treasure was buried in return for 25 % of the gold. The
Ministry agreed, but, according to The Jerusalem Post, after digging a deep hole no gold was found
[3].
Read More
The Garden Tomb (also known as Gordon's Calvary),[1] located
in Jerusalem, outside the city walls and close to the
Damascus Gate, is a rock-cut tomb considered by some to be
the site of the burial and resurrection of Jesus, and to be
adjacent to Golgotha[2], in contradistinction to the
traditional site for these-the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
There is no mention of the Garden Tomb as the place of
Jesus' burial before the nineteenth century.
Motivation and discovery
During the nineteenth century some doubts were raised
concerning the authenticity of the traditional site, the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre:
Prior to Constantine's time, the site was a temple to
Aphrodite, built by Hadrian.[3]
Archaeology suggests that the exact location claimed for the
tomb would have been within Hadrian's Temple, or likely to
have been destroyed under the temple's heavy retaining wall.
[4][5]
The temple's location complies with the typical layout of
Roman cities (i.e. adjacent to the Forum, at the
intersection of the main north-south road with the main
east-west road), rather than necessarily being a deliberate
act of contempt for Christianity.
A spur would be required for the rockface to have included
both the alleged site of the tomb and the tombs beyond the
western end of the church.
First century Jewish leaders condemn the idea of burial to
the west of the city,[6] a condemnation archaeologically
corroborated by the locations of the known ancient Jewish
graves.[7]
The site is currently within the Old City walls, and due to
the heights of the terrain, it would be dangerous and
unlikely, from a town-defense point of view, for the walls
to have previously been east of the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre.[8]
The tombs at the west of the site, alleged to date from the
first century, therefore indicating that the site was
outside the city at that time, could just as easily date
from centuries prior to that.[9]
Due to these issues, several nineteenth century scholars had
rejected the traditional site's validity. Additionally many
Protestants have often opposed the traditional location
simply because it has previously received support from Roman
Catholic Church, and is sited within an environment which is
not low church.[10] Many of these concerns were aired in the
time of Major-General Charles George Gordon, CB, and it is
surmised that he, a Protestant, was motivated by them to
look elsewhere.[citation needed]
In 1883, near to the Damascus Gate, General Gordon found a
rocky escarpment (now situated just behind a Palestinian bus
station), which from several angles resembled the face of a
skull; since one of the possible etymologies for Golgotha is
the Aramaic word for skull, and may refer to the shape of
the place, Gordon concluded that the rocky escarpment was
likely to have been Golgotha. Prior to Gordon, this
possibility had also been suggested by Colonel Conder in
1870 (an associate of Lord Kitchener),[11] by Fisher Howe in
1871,[12] and by the German scholar Otto Thenius in 1842.
[13]
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre has its tomb just a few
yards away from its Golgotha, corresponding with the account
of John the Evangalist: "Now in the place where he was
crucified there was a ... new tomb" (John 19:41 ). In 1869 a
number of tombs had also been found near Gordon's Golgotha,
and Gordon concluded that one of them must have been the
tomb of Jesus. John also specifies that Jesus' tomb was
located in a garden;[14] consequently, an ancient wine press
and cistern have been cited as evidence that the area had
once been a garden, and the somewhat isolated tomb adjacent
to the cistern has become identified as the Garden Tomb of
Jesus. This particular tomb also has a stone groove running
along the ground outside it, which Gordon argued to be a
slot that once housed a stone, corresponding to the biblical
account of a stone being rolled over the tomb entrance to
close it.
Read More
King David's Tomb (Hebrew: קבר דוד המלך) is the name given
to a Jewish religious site on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, near
the Hagia Maria Sion Abbey; the site has traditionally been
viewed as the burial place of King David, the second king of
Israel. It is situated in a ground floor corner of the
remains of the former Hagia Zion, a Byzantine church; the
upper floor of the same building has traditionally been
viewed as the Cenacle of Jesus. In 1335, the church became a
Franciscan monastery, but, due to tensions with the Greek
Orthodox Patriarch, the monastery was closed in 1551, and
ownership of the site was transferred to a Muslim family.
The building is now part of the Diaspora Yeshiva.
After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, it fell on the Israel side
of the Green Line. Between 1948 and 1967 the Old City was
occupied by Jordan, which barred entry to Jews even for the
purpose of praying at Jewish holy sites. The closest
accessible site to the site of the ancient Jewish Temple was
Mount Zion. Jewish pilgrims from around the country and the
world went to David's Tomb and climbed to the rooftop to
pray.[1]
The site was apparently not viewed as David's Tomb until the
12th century. According to Benjamin of Tudela, writing about
1173, the tomb was discovered during repairs to the church;
the motivation for it being declared to be the tomb of David
is uncertain. It is impossible to verify whether the tomb is
original to the location, as crusaders[citation needed]
removed the tomb from its earlier context, and placed within
it a stone sarcophagus, newly built for the purpose; the
sarcophagus now rests over a 14th century floor. Since 1949,
a blue cloth, with basic modernist ornamentation, has been
placed over the sarcophagus. The images on the cloth include
several crown-shaped Rimmon placed over Torah scrolls, and a
violin, and the cloth also features several pieces of text
written in Hebrew. The contents of the sarcophagus have not
yet been subjected to any scientific analysis, to determine
their age, former appearance, or even whether there is
actually still a corpse there.
The authenticity of the site has been challenged on several
grounds. According to the Hebrew Bible, David was actually
buried within the City of David together with his
forefathers;[2] by contrast, the 4th century Pilgrim of
Bordeaux reports that he discovered David to be buried in
Bethlehem, in a vault that also contained the tombs of
Ezekiel, Jesse, Solomon, Job, and Asaph, with those names
carved into the tomb walls.[3] The genuine David's Tomb is
unlikely to contain any furnishings of value; according to
the first century writer Josephus, Herod the Great tried to
loot the tomb of David, but discovered that someone else had
already done so before him[4]
Archaeologists, doubting the Mount Zion location and
favouring the biblical account, have since the early 20th
century sought the actual tomb in the City of David area.[5]
In 1913, Raymond Weill found eight elaborate tombs at the
south of the City of David,[6] which archaeologists have
subsequently interpreted as strong candidates for the burial
locations of the former kings of the city;[7] Hershel
Shanks, for example, argues that the most ornate of these
(officially labelled T1) is precisely where one would expect
to find the burial site mentioned in the Bible.[8] Among
those who agree with the academic and archaeological
assessment of the Mount Zion site, some[who?] believe it
actually is the tomb of a later king, possibly Manasseh, who
is described in the Hebrew Bible as being buried in the
Garden of the King rather than in the City of David like his
predecessors.
Read More
The Cenacle (from Latin cenaculum), also known as the "Upper
Room", is the term used for the site of The Last Supper. The
word is a derivative of the Latin word cena, which means
dinner.
In Christian tradition, based on Acts 1:13,[1] the "Upper
Room" was not only the site of the Last Supper (i.e. the
Cenacle), but the usual place where the Apostles stayed in
Jerusalem, and according to the Catholic Encyclopedia[2]
"the first Christian church".
Thus the Cenacle is considered the site where many other
events described in the New Testament took place[3][4], such
as:
the Washing of the Feet[5]
some resurrection appearances of Jesus[6][7][8]
the gathering of the disciples after the Ascension of
Jesus[9]
the election of Saint Matthias as apostle[10]
the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples on the day
of Pentecost[11]
The Site
Since at least the fourth century CE a structure identified
as the Cenacle, the site of the Last Supper, has been a
popular Christian pilgrimage site on Mount Sion in
Jerusalem. It is documented in the narratives of many early
pilgrims such as Egeria, who visited in 384.[12] The
building has experienced numerous cycles of destruction and
reconstruction, culminating in the Gothic structure which
stands today.
While the term "Cenacle" refers only to the "Upper Room,"
the site is connected to other points of interest, including
a large cenotaph in the lower level, said first by 12th
century Crusaders to be the tomb of King David. However,
most scholars consider this attribution to be incorrect; 1
Kings 2:10[13] says that David was buried "in the City of
David," an area of Jerusalem geographically disparate from
Mount Sion. The Cenacle is also connected to the Church of
the Dormition.
History --
The early history of the Cenacle site is uncertain; scholars
have made attempts at establishing a chronology based on
archaeological evidence and historical sources. Biblical
archaeologist Bargil Pixner[14] offers these significant
dates and events in the building's history.
The original building was a synagogue later probably used by
Jewish Christians. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia,
the building was spared during the destruction of Jerusalem
under Titus (AD 70)[15], though Pixner thinks it was likely
rebuilt right after the war, and claims three walls of that
structure are still extant: the North, East and South walls
of the present King David's Tomb. Roman emperor Theodosius I
built an octagonal church (the "Theodosian Church" or "Holy
Zion Church") aside the synagogue (that was named "Church of
the Apostles"). The Theodosian Church, probably started on
382 AD, was consecrated by John II, Bishop of Jerusalem on
394 AD. Some years later, c. 415 AD, Bishop John II enlarged
the Holy Zion Church transforming it in a large rectangular
basilica with five naves, always aside the Church of the
Apostles. This building was later destroyed by Persian
invaders in 614 AD and shortly after partially rebuilt by
patriarch Modestus. In 1009 AD the church was razed to the
ground by the Muslim caliph Al-Hakim and shortly after
replaced by the Crusaders with a five aisled basilica named
for "Saint Mary". It is thought that the Cenacle occupied a
portion of two aisles on the right side of the altar.[16]
While the church was destroyed sometime after 1219, the
Cenacle was spared.[17] In the 1340's, it passed into the
custody of the Franciscan Order of Friars, who maintained
the structure until 1552, when the Ottoman Empire took
possession of it. After the Franciscan friars' eviction,
this room was transformed into a mosque, as evidenced by the
mihrab in the direction of Mecca and an Arabic inscription
prohibiting public prayer at the site. Christians were not
allowed to return until the establishment of the State of
Israel in 1948.
Architecture --
Scholars offer wide-ranging dates and builders for the
surviving Gothic-style Cenacle. Some believe that it was
constructed by Crusaders just before Saladin’s conquest of
Jerusalem in 1187, while others attribute it to Holy Roman
Emperor Frederick II, after he arrived in the city in 1229.
Still others hold that it was not built in this form until
the Franciscans acquired the site in the 1330s.[18] Scarce
documentation and disturbed structural features offer little
strong support for any of these dates.[19]
In its current state, the Cenacle is divided into six rib-
vaulted bays. The bays are supported by three freestanding
columns which bilaterally divide the space, as well as six
pillars flanking the side walls. While the capital of the
westernmost freestanding column is flush with the Cenacle’s
interior wall, the column shaft itself is completely
independent of the wall, leading scholars to consider the
possibility that this wall was not original to the building.
[20]
An analysis of the column and pillar capitals offers clues,
but not a solution, to the mystery of the current building’s
origin. The Corinthianesque capital between the second and
third bays of the Cenacle is stylistically indicative of
multiple geographical regions and chronological periods.
This capital’s spiky leaves, which tightly adhere to the
volume of the column before erupting into scrolls, are in
congruence with common outputs of the 12th century sculpture
workshop at the Temple site in Jerusalem in the last years
before Saladin’s conquest in 1187.[21] The workshop also
frequently utilized drilling as an ornamental device. The
Jerusalem workshop included artists from diverse regions in
the West, who brought stylistic traits with them from their
native countries. The workshop produced sculpture for many
Crusader projects and other structures, such as the al-Aqsa
mosque.
This comparison allows for the support of the twelfth
century date of the Cenacle. There are also, however,
similar capitals which originated in workshops in southern
Italy, a draw for scholars who wish to associate the
building with Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and the Sixth
Crusade in 1229. Examples can be seen in the Romanesque
cathedral in Bitanto, a small city near Bari, in southern
Italy, and on column supports of the pulpit in the Pisa
Baptistery, carved by Apulian-born sculptor Nicola Pisano
around 1260.
The capitals of the freestanding columns are not identical.
The capital between the first and second bays seems either
severely weathered or shallowly carved, and its volume is a
marked contrast from the others. It rises from the shaft in
a straight cylinder, rather than in an inverted pyramid, and
then flares only just before it intersects with the abacus.
The third capital, which now flanks the Cenacle’s western
wall, is also unique among the three. It is not decorated
with a floral motif, rather, scrolling crockets spring from
the base of the volume. Enlart has proposed a comparison to
buildings constructed by Frederick II in Apulia.[22]
Analysis of these column capitals does not yield significant
evidence to link them to the 14th century and a potential
Franciscan construction, nor does it definitively date them
to the 12th or 13th century. The building remains a
frustrating, but intriguing, mystery.
Other sites --
The Syriac Orthodox Church monastery of Saint Mark near the
Armenian Quarter, in the Old City of Jerusalem, is sometime
considered as alternative place for the cenacle.[23]
Read More
Aceldama or Akeldama (Aramaic:חקל דמא; field of blood) is
the Aramaic name for a place in Jerusalem associated with
Judas Iscariot, one of the followers of Jesus.
The earth in this area is of rich clay and was formerly used
by potters. For this reason it was formerly known as the
Potter's Field. The clay had a strong red colour, which may
be the origin of the modern name. More recently it was used
as a burial place for non-Jews. It was used for this purpose
up to the first quarter of the nineteenth century.
Christian tradition connects it with the death of Judas
Iscariot, who is supposed to have bought it with the money
he received for betraying Jesus. In this account (Acts of
the Apostles 1:19) Judas fell over in this field in such a
way that his intestines burst out and he died. This would
imply that the name refers to the blood of Judas.
In another version (Gospel of Matthew 27:7) Judas hanged
himself after returning the money to the Temple authorities,
who then used the money to buy the field called the Potter's
Field, which was then used as a burial place for foreigners.
Here the implication is that the name refers either to the
blood of the buried or the blood of Jesus.
The Akeldama (Hakl-ed-damm) of today presents a large,
square sepulchre, of which the southern half is excavated in
the rock, the remainder being built of massive masonry. In
the center stands a huge pillar, constructed partly of rough
blocks and partly of polished stones. Much of its clay was
taken away by Empress Helena and other prominent Christians,
for sarcophagi.
It lies on a narrow level terrace on the south face of the
valley of Hinnom.
[edit]Later
In his "Onomasticon" (ed. Klostermann, p. 102, 16) Eusebius
says the "field of Haceldama" lies nearer to "Thafeth of the
valley of Ennom". But under the word "Haceldama" (p. 38, 20)
he says that this field was pointed out as being "north of
Mount Sion". St. Jerome changed this to "south of Mount
Sion" (p. 39, 27).
In the twelfth century, the crusaders erected beyond the
field, on the south side of the valley of Hinnom, a large
building now in a ruined condition, measuring seventy-eight
feet in length from east to west, fifty-eight feet in width
and thirty in height on the north. It is roofed and covers
towards the southern end several natural grottoes, which
were once used as sepulchres of the Jewish type, and a ditch
is hollowed out at the northern end which is sixty-eight
feet long, twenty-one feet wide and thirty feet deep. It is
estimated that the bones and rubbish accumulated there form
a bed from ten to fifteen feet thick. Akeldama has been the
property of the non-United Armenians since the sixteenth
century.
In 1892 the Greek Orthodox Church built a monastery at the
site, named after Saint Onuphrius. Many burial caves have
been identified in and around the monastery.
Read More
The Burnt House is an excavated house from the Second Temple period situated six meters below current street level in the
Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.
History --
The Burnt House is believed to have been set on fire during the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. According to Josephus,
Jerusalem's Upper City was known for its wealth. It was located close to the Temple and inhabited by priestly families who
served in the temple. The house was destroyed one month after the Temple and Lower City. When the Romans stormed the Upper
City, they found little resistance: Much of the population was near death from disease and starvation.
Archaeological excavations --
Following the Six-Day War the Jewish quarter was rebuilt, and extensive archeological excavations were conducted in the area.
The excavations were carried out from 1969 to 1982 under the auspices of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem, the Israel Exploration Society and the Israel Department of Antiquities (today, the Israel Antiquities
Authority). The excavations were headed by Dr. Nahman Avigad, and in 1970 one of the findings was The Burnt House which was
found under a layer of ashes and destruction, indicating that the house had been burned down.
The house is only part of a large complex, could not be fully excavated, and still lies under buildings of the Jewish Quarter.
Coins were found in the house issued by the Roman governors of Judea, as well as those issued by the Jewish rebels in AD 67–69
and none that were later than that, indicating that the house was burned down at the end of this time. The ground floor of the
Burnt House was exposed to reveal a house with an area of about ten meters (32 ft) square. It included a courtyard, four rooms,
a kitchen and a Mikvah. The walls of the house, built of stones and cement and covered with a thick white plaster, were
preserved to a height of about one meter. In the beaten-earth floors of the rooms were the sunken bases of round ovens made of
brown clay, indicating perhaps that this wing of the house was used as a workshop.
The courtyard of the house was paved with stone, and through it one reached the kitchen and the other rooms. Three of these
were medium-sized and a fourth, a side room, extremely small. The very small mikvah is covered with gray plaster and has four
steps descending to its bottom. In the corner of the kitchen was a stove, basalt grinding-stones next to it, and a large stone
tray. Several stone jars were also found in the kitchen. The occupants probably used the heavy stone kitchenware, rather than
pottery, because according to Halacha they do not contract ritual impurity. This suggests the occupants were a priestly family,
who had to maintain their cleanness in order to work at the temple. This is also indicated by the presence of the Mikvah.
Throughout the house are stones burnt by an intense fire, scorched wooden beams and layers of ash and soot that testify to the
huge fire that raged here. Its walls and wood-beamed ceilings collapsed in a conflagration, sealing an abundance of diverse
objects in its rooms. And scattered in disarray among the collapsed walls, ceilings and the second story, were fragments of
stone tables and many ceramic, stone and metal vessels, iron nails found in the ruins are all that was left of the wooden roof,
the shelves and furnishings which were completely burnt.
Also found were inkwells, Roman-period oil lamps that were used to light up the house during the evenings, and other household
items, the large jugs, bowls and measuring cups, indicating that this was a perfume production workshop.
a covered drainage channel from the Roman period, According to the historian Josephus, some of the last Jewish rebels to hold
out against the Romans hid in tunnels such as this.
Leaning against a corner of one of the rooms was an iron spear, which may have belonged to one of the Jewish fighters who lived
here.
At the entrance to the side room, the forearm bones from the finger tip to the elbow joint of a woman aged 17–21 were found,
which was pointed towards a particular area of the room. Further digging continued and a wooden spear was discovered it seemed
that before her death, the woman wanted to reach out to the spear.
Since the bone is almost certainly that of a Jewish woman, it was buried in accordance with Jewish law, but pictures are on
display.
Also found was an engraving of a Menorah possibly a depiction of the Menorah located at the Temple given the close proximity to
the actual temple. And is used as evidence in the arguments of historians as to the exect shape of the Menorah
Kathros family --
Also found in the house were a round stone weight, 10 cm in diameter, on it, in square Aramaic script was the Hebrew
inscription (of) "Bar Kathros", meaning the "son of Kathros," this indicating that the house belonged to the Kathros family.
According to the Talmud, the Kathros family was a priestly family that had abused its position in the Temple. The Talmud
describes them in Pesahim 57A in a poem that lists the priestly families that abused their positions in the temple as fallows:
Abba Saul ben Batnith in the name of Abba Joseph ben Hanin said:
"Woe is me on account of the house of Baithos, woe is me on account of their rods
Woe is me through the house of Hanin and through their calumnies
Woe is me through the "house of Kathros" and through their pens
Woe is me on account of the house of Ishmael ben Piakhi and of their fists,
for they were all high-priests, their sons were the treasurers,
their sons-in-law were the chamberlains,
and their servants would beat us with rods."
The attack for misusing their pens may mean they spread false rumors or misinformation. Although someone may have carried this
weight from another house, the Bar Kathros family certainly had a house in Jerusalem, given their priestly position, and this
one is a good candidate.
Museum --
The excavated house is open to the public, and its artifacts are on display in the small museum near the room. The 12-minute
audio-visual presentation, set up inside the house, plays back the nearly 2000 year-old events: the preparations of the revolt
against the Romans, the different political opinions of the family members, news on the approaching Roman Legions, the
destruction of the temple, the storming of both the city and the house, then ending with the torching of the house.
Read More
Herod's Gate (Hebrew: שער הפרחים Translit.: Sha'ar
HaPerachim Translated: Gate of the flowers, Arabic: باب
الساهرة) is a gate in the walls of the Old City of
Jerusalem. Its elevation is 755 meters above sea level. It
adjoins the Muslim Quarter, and is a short distance to the
east of the Damascus Gate. In proximity to the gate is an
Arab neighborhood called Bab a-Zahara, a variation of the
Arabic name for the gate.
This modest gate is one of the newest gates of Jerusalem. At
the time when Suleiman the Magnificent built the wall, a
small wicket gate was situated in front of the current gate,
which was rarely opened. By 1875, in order to provide a
passageway to the neighborhoods which were beginning to
develop north of the Old City, the Ottomans made a breach in
the northern part of the structure and closed the original
opening.
The gate is named after Herod the Great. That is because in
the Crusaders' period a church was built near the gate in
the belief that at the time of the Crucifixion of Jesus,
Herod Antipas's house was situated at that spot. In its
place today stands the church of Dir Al Ads.
In 1998 and during several subsequent excavation seasons
(the latest in 2004), archaeologists of the Israel
Antiquities Authority dug in the eastern area of Herod's
Gate. The digging focused on three separate areas adjacent
to the wall, in which nine archeological layers were
discovered – covering from the Iron age up through the
Turkish period. Among the most significant discoveries were
structures from the period of the Second Temple, a complete
segment of the Byzantine-Roman wall, and remnants of massive
construction underneath the wall. These remnants were
identified as portions of a fortification from the ancient
Muslim period and from the Middle Ages. These discoveries
point out the importance which the rulers of the city gave
to the fortification of one of its most sensitive places-the
northern wall of Jerusalem-as historical accounts indicate
that circa 1099 the Crusader soldiers in the command of
Godfrey of Bouillon entered the city through a breach
located in proximity to the present Herod's Gate.
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The Damascus Gate (also known as Shechem Gate or Nablus
Gate) (Hebrew: שער שכם, Sha'ar Shkhem, Arabic: باب العامود,
Bab-al-Amud, meaning Gate of the Column) is an important
gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. The modern gate was built
in 1542 by the Ottoman ruler Suleiman the Magnificent.
The original gate was presumably built in Second Temple
times. The Romans built a new gate at the time of Hadrian,
in the second century AD. In front of the gate stood a Roman
victory column, shown on the Madaba Map, thus giving the
gate its name in Arabic to this day, Bab el-Amud, The Column
Gate. The column has never been found, but the Roman gate
can be seen today, due to excavations made during the
British mandate. This was the northern entrance gate to the
city at the time of the Crusades.
The gate has two towers, each equipped with machicolations.
It is located at the edge of the Arab bazaar and
marketplace. In contrast to the Jaffa Gate, where stairs
rise towards the gate, in the Damascus Gate, the stairs
descend towards the gate. In 1972, right-wing activist rabbi
Meir Kahane proposed that a mezuzah be affixed to the gate,
to secure the Jewish claim to the gate. After repeated
protests from Arab residents, the Israeli government refused
to consider Kahane's proposal. Today, only three of the Old
City's gates have mezuzot attached.[citation needed]
While the proper English name of the gate is "Damascus
Gate", in Hebrew it is called Sha'ar Shechem, meaning
"Shechem (Nablus) Gate". Israeli media therefore frequently
refer to the gate as 'Shechem (Nablus) Gate' in English
language publications as well.[1] In either case, the name
refers to a city north of Jerusalem, since the Damascus Gate
is the main north-facing gate of the Old City.
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The New Gate (Arabic: باب الجديد Bab al-Jedid; Hebrew: השער
החדש HaSha'ar HeChadash) is the newest gate in Jerusalem's Old
City Walls, built in 1898 to provide direct access to the
Christian Quarter for the visit of the German Emperor William
II.
It is also called the Gate of Hammid after the Ottoman Sultan
Abdul Hamid II. The gate is located in the northwestern part
of the wall and faces north.
During the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, when Jordan captured East
Jerusalem (which includes the Old City of Jerusalem) it was
sealed off. It was reopened again in 1967 after Israel's
capture of East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War.
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Jaffa Gate (Hebrew: שער יפו, Sha'ar Yafo; Arabic: باب الخليل, Bab el-Khalil, "Gate of the
Friend"; also Arabic, Bab Mihrab Daud, "Gate of the Prayer Niche of David"; also David's Gate)
is a stone portal in the historic walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is one of eight gates
in Jerusalem's Old City walls.
Jaffa Gate is the only one of the Old City gates positioned at a right angle to the wall. This
could have been done as a defensive measure to slow down oncoming attackers,[1] or to orient it
in the direction of Jaffa Road, from which pilgrims arrived at the end of their journey from the
port of Jaffa.
Names --
Both the Jaffa Gate and Jaffa Road are named after the port of Jaffa, from whence Jonah embarked
on his Biblical sea journey and pilgrims debarked on their trip to the Holy City. The modern-day
Highway 1, which starts from the western end of Jaffa Road, completes the same route to Tel
Aviv-Jaffa.
The Arabic name for the gate, Bab el-Khalil (Gate of the Friend), refers to Abraham, the beloved
of God who is buried in Hebron. Since Abraham lived in Hebron, another name for Jaffa Gate is
"Hebron Gate". The Arabs also called this gate Bab Mihrab Daud (Gate of the Prayer Niche of
David), since King David is considered a prophet by Islam. The Crusaders, who rebuilt the
citadel to the south of Jaffa Gate, also built a gate behind the present location of Jaffa Gate,
calling it "David's Gate".
Architecture --
Like the stones used for the rest of the Old City walls, the stones of Jaffa Gate are large,
hewn, sand-colored blocks.[2] The entryway stands about 20 feet (6 meters) high, and the wall
rises another 20 feet above that.[3]
[edit]History
Jaffa Gate was inaugurated in 1538 as part of the rebuilding of the Old City walls by Suleiman
the Magnificent.[2]
These tombs are believed to be those of the architects of the Old City walls.
Just inside the gate, behind an iron grating on the left, lie two tombs. These are believed to
be the graves of the two architects whom Suleiman commissioned to construct the Old City walls.
According to legend, when Suleiman saw that the architects had left Mount Zion and the tomb of
King David out of the enclosure, he ordered them killed. However, in deference to their
impressive achievement, he had them buried inside the walls next to Jaffa Gate.[4]
In 1908, a clock tower was built near the gate to serve the developing business district in the
area. The tower lasted only a decade: it was knocked down by the British when they occupied
Jerusalem.
In 1917, British general Edmund Allenby entered the Old City through the Jaffa Gate, giving a
speech at the nearby Tower of David. Allenby entered the city on foot in a show of respect for
the city and a desire to avoid comparison with the Kaiser's entry in 1898. The British
demolished other buildings adjoining the city wall in 1944 in an attempt to preserve Jerusalem's
historic vistas.
During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Israeli forces fought hard to connect the Jewish Quarter of
the Old City with Israeli-held western Jerusalem by controlling the Jaffa Gate. On the evening
of May 18, 1948, the Haganah launched a frontal assault on the gate but were beaten back with
heavy losses.[5] With a Jordanian victory in 1948, Israeli forces were not able to gain control
of the gate until the Six Day War in 1967.
In 2000 Pope John Paul II came through Jaffa Gate to the Old City during his visit in Israel in
the Holy Year.
Topography --
Inside Jaffa Gate is a small square with entrances to the Christian Quarter (on the left),
Muslim Quarter (straight ahead) and the Armenian Quarter (to the right, past the Tower of
David). A tourist information office and shops line the square. The entrance to the Muslim
Quarter is part of the Arab shuk (marketplace).
The gate's location is determined by the city's topography, located along the valley followed by
Jaffa Road into the old city, between the northern hill of the Acra and the southern hill of
Mount Zion.[6] The road and the valley it follows continue eastward and down into the Tyropoeon
Valley, bisecting the northern and southern halves of the city, with the Christian and Muslim
Quarters to the north, and Armenian and Jewish Quarters to the south.
Running along the Old City walls south of Jaffa Gate is the Tower of David, a Jerusalem landmark
that dates back to antiquity. The current tower was built during the reign of Suleiman the
Magnificent. It is called the Tower of David because the foundations of the tower go back to
King David's times with the building of the first tower on the site, as described in the Hebrew
Bible.
Renovation --
Jaffa Gate is heavily used by pedestrians and vehicles alike. In the early 2000s, the road
straddling the gate was moved further west and a plaza constructed in its stead to connect Jaffa
Gate with the soon-to-be-built Mamilla shopping mall across the street.
In 2010, the Israel Antiquities Authority completed a two-month restoration and cleaning of
Jaffa Gate as part of a $4 million project begun in 2007 to renovate the length of the Old City
walls.[3] The clean-up included replacing broken stones, cleaning the walls of decades of car
exhaust, and reattaching an elaborate Arabic inscription erected at the gate's original
dedication in 1593. Bullet fragments in the gate, from fighting in the War of Independence, were
preserved.[7] Infrastructure work beside Jaffa Gate also uncovered an ancient aqueduct dating
from the second or third century A.D.[8]
Read More
The Dung Gate (also known as Sha'ar Ha'ashpot, Gate of
Silwan, Mograbi Gate, Arabic: باب المغاربة) is one of the
gates in the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.
The gate is situated near the southeast corner of the old
city, southwest of the Temple Mount.
The gate is the closest to the Western Wall and is a main
passage for vehicles. It was originally much smaller, but
was enlarged in 1952, after the Old City came under
Jordanian control in 1948. After its capture by Israel in
1967, architect Shlomo Aronson was commissioned to renovate
this gate.[1] Directly behind the gate lies the entrance to
the Western Wall compound. At night, Egged city buses pass
through the gate to the Western Wall bus stop, which lies
just behind the gate; during the day, the buses stop on the
road outside the gate, because the increased number of buses
had cluttered up the bus stop inside the Old City walls.
[edit]Name
The name Sha'ar Ha'ashpot appears in the Book of
Nehemiah:3:13-14. It is probably named after the residue
that was taken from the Jewish Temple into the Valley of
Hinnom, where it was burned. This ancient "Dung Gate" may
not have been in the same location as the modern gate.
The name Mograbi gate (Bab al-Magharibeh) refers to the
Moroccan Quarter or (Mughrabi quarter) now destructed, which
was situated near the area.
Read More
The Lions' Gate (Hebrew: שער האריות, Arabic: باب الأسباط,
also St. Stephen's Gate or Sheep Gate) is located in the Old
City Walls of Jerusalem and is one of seven open Gates in
Jerusalem's Old City Walls.
Located in the east wall, the entrance marks the beginning
of the traditional Christian observance of the last walk of
Jesus from prison to crucifixion, the Via Dolorosa. Near the
gate’s crest are four figures of panthers, often mistaken
for lions, two on the left and two on the right. They were
placed there by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent to celebrate
the Ottoman defeat of the Mamluks in 1517. Legend has it
that Suleiman's predecessor Selim I was captured by lions
that were going to eat him because of his plans to level the
city. He was spared only after promising to protect the city
by building a wall around it. This led to the lion becoming
the heraldic symbol of Jerusalem.[2]
In another version,[citation needed] Suleiman taxed
Jerusalem's residents with heavy taxes which they could not
afford to pay. That night Suleiman had a dream of two lions
coming to devour him. When he woke up, he asked his dream
solvers what his dream meant. A wise respected man came
forward and asked Suleiman what was on his mind before
drifting to sleep. Suleiman responded that he was thinking
about how to punish all the men who didn't pay his taxes.
The wise man responded that since Suleiman thought badly
about the holy city, God was angry. To atone, Suleiman built
the Lions' Gate to protect Jerusalem from invaders.
Israeli paratroops from the 55th Paratroop Brigade came
through this gate during the Six-Day War of 1967 and
unfurled the Israeli flag above the Temple Mount.
The Lions' Gate is not to be confused with the Zion Gate in
the Old City Wall, located in the south, leading to the
Jewish and Armenian Quarters.
The magnificent walls of Jerusalem's Old City were built by
the Ottoman Empire under the direct supervision of Sultan
Suleiman in 1542. The walls stretch for approximately 4.5
kilometers (2.8 miles) and rise to a height of 5–15 meters
(16–49 feet), with a thickness of 3 meters (10 feet).[3]
Altogether, the Old City walls contain 43 surveillance
towers and 11 gates, seven of which are presently open.
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The Antonia Fortress was a military barracks built by Herod
the Great in Jerusalem on the site of earlier Ptolemaic and
Hasmonean strongholds, named after Herod's patron Mark
Antony. The fortress was built at the eastern end of the
great wall of the city (the second wall), on the
northeastern side of the city, near the temple and Pool of
Bethesda.
Traditionally, it has been thought that the vicinity of the
Antonia Fortress later became the site of the Praetorium,
and that this latter building was the place where Jesus was
taken to stand before Pilate. However, this tradition was
based on the mistaken assumption that an area of roman
flagstones, discovered beneath the Church of the
Condemnation and Imposition of the Cross and the Convent of
the Sisters of Zion, was the pavement (Greek: lithostratos)
which the Bible describes as the location of Pontius
Pilate's judgment of Jesus[1]; archaeological investigation
now indicates that these slabs are the paving of the eastern
of two 2nd century Forums, built by Hadrian as part of the
construction of Aelia Capitolina[2]. The site of the Forum
had previously been a large open-air pool, the Strouthion
Pool, which was constructed by the Hasmoneans, is mentioned
by Josephus as being adjacent to the Fortress in the first
century[3], and is still present beneath Hadrian's
flagstones; the traditional scene would require that
everyone was walking on water.
Like Philo, Josephus testifies that the Roman governors
stayed in Herod's palace while they were in Jerusalem[4],
and carrying out their judgements on the pavement
immediately outside it[5]; Josephus indicates that Herod's
palace is on the western hill[6], and it has recently (2001)
been rediscovered under a corner of the Jaffa Gate citadel.
Archaeologists now therefore conclude that in the first
century, the Praetorium – the residence of the governor
(Praetor) – was on the western hill, rather than the Antonia
Fortress, on the diametrically opposite side of the city[2].
Tower or Towers
Although many modern reconstructions often depict the
fortress as having a tower at each of four corners, the
historian Josephus repeatedly refers to it as the tower
Antonia, and stated that it had been built by John Hyrcanus
for storing the vestments used in the Temple[7]. However
Josephus states:
"The general appearance of the whole was that of a tower
with other towers at each of the four corners; three of
these turrets were fifty cubits high, while that at the
south-east angle rose to seventy cubits and so commanded a
view of the whole area of the temple."[8]
Some archaeologists are of the opinion that the fortress was
only a single tower, located at the south-east corner of the
site[9]; for example, Pierre Benoit, former professor of New
Testament studies at the École Biblique, having carried out
extensive archaeological studies of the site, concurs and
adds that there is absolutely no support for there having
been four towers[2]
Josephus placed the Antonia at the Northwest corner of the
colonnades surrounding the Temple. Modern depictions often
show the Antonia as being located along the North side of
the temple enclosure. However, Josephus' description of the
siege of Jerusalem suggests that it was separated from the
temple enclosure itself and probably connected by two
colonnades with a narrow space between them. Josephus'
measurements suggest about a 600 foot separation between the
two complexes.
Prior to the First Jewish–Roman War, the Antonia housed some
part of the Roman garrison of Jerusalem. The Romans also
stored the high priest's vestments within the Fortress.
The Antonia was destroyed in 70 AD by Titus' army during the
siege of Jerusalem. Titus captured the fortress as a
precursor to attacking the Temple complex. He had the
Antonia leveled to allow passage of siege materials to the
temple.
[edit]Other views
Ernest L. Martin asserts a controversial claim in his book,
"The Temples that Jerusalem Forgot"[10], that the Ophel
Mound is the site of the First and Second Temples and what
is called the Temple Mount today was in fact the Roman Fort
Antonia. His work set off a firestorm of discussion because
Martin asserted that the Temple Mount was not the location
of the last Temple. This work had even more importance due
to the prior relationship between Martin and Herbert W.
Armstrong whose editiorial in The Plain Truth magazine had
been cited by Denis Michael Rohan for his excuse to set fire
to the Al Aqsa mosque during the 1960s.
The basis of this work began with the first visit by Martin
to Jerusalem in 1961 when he first met Benjamin Mazar and
later his son Ory Mazar, who informed him of his belief that
the Temples of Solomon and Zerubbabel were located on the
Ophel mound to the north of the original Mount Zion on the
southeast ridge. Ory Mazar informed Martin that his father
had also inclined to this belief before his death. In 1996
Martin wrote a draft report to support this theory. He
wrote: "I was then under the impression that Simon the
Hasmonean (along with Herod a century later) moved the
Temple from the Ophel mound to the Dome of the Rock area."
However, after studying the words of Josephus concerning the
Temple of Herod the Great, which was reported to be in the
same general area of the former Temples, he then read the
account of Eleazar who led the final contingent of Jewish
resistance to the Romans at Masada which stated that the
Roman fortress was the only structure left by 73 C.E. "With
this key in mind, I came to the conclusion in 1997 that all
the Temples were indeed located on the Ophel mound over the
area of the Gihon Spring".[11]
From these conclusions Martin produced his book in which he
asserted that the Temples of Jerusalem were located over the
Gihon Spring and not over the Dome of the Rock. He wrote:
"What has been amazing to me is the vast amount of Jewish,
Muslim, and Christian records that remain available from the
first to the sixteenth centuries that clearly vindicate the
conclusions that I have reached in this book of research."
Read More
The Via Dolorosa (Latin for Way of Grief or Way of Suffering) is a street, in two parts, within the Old City of
Jerusalem, held to be the path that Jesus walked, carrying his cross, on the way to his crucifixion. The current
route has been established since the 18th century, replacing various earlier versions.[1] It is today marked by nine
Stations of the Cross; there have been fourteen stations since the late 15th century,[1] with the remaining five
stations being inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The route is a place of Christian pilgrimage.
History
The main roads - the cardines (north-south) and decumani (east-west) - in Aelia Capitolina. The Via Dolorosa is the
northern decumanus
The Via Dolorosa is the modern remnant of one of the two main east-west routes (Decumanus Maximus) through Aelia
Capitolina, as built by Hadrian. Standard Roman city design places the main east-west road through the middle of the
city, but the presence of the Temple Mount in the middle of this position required Hadrian's planners to add an extra
east-west road at its north. In addition to the usual central north-south road (cardo), which in Jerusalem headed
straight up the western hill, a second major north-south road was added down the line of the Tyropoeon Valley; these
two cardines converge near the Damascus Gate, close to the Via Dolorosa. If the Via Dolorosa had continued west in a
straight line across the two routes, it would have formed a triangular block too narrow to construct standard
buildings; the decumanus (now the Via Dolorosa) west of the Cardo was constructed south of its eastern portion,
creating the discontinuity in the road still present today.
The first reports of a pilgrimage route corresponding to the Biblical events dates from the Byzantine era; during
that time, a Holy Thursday procession started from the top of the Mount of Olives, stopped in Gethsemane, entered the
Old City at the Lion's Gate, and followed approximately the current route to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre;[2]
however, there were no actual stops during the route along the Via Dolorosa itself.[1] By the 8th century, however,
the route went via the western hill instead; starting at Gethsemene, it continued to the alleged House of Caiaphas on
Mount Zion, then to Hagia Sophia (viewed as the site of the Praetorium), and finally to the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre.[1]
Via Dolorosa, Jerusalem.
During the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholics of Jerusalem split into two factions, one controlling the churches on the
western hill, the other the churches on the eastern hill; they each supported the route which took pilgrims past the
churches the faction in question controlled,[1] one arguing that the Roman Governor's mansion (Praetorium) was on
Mount Zion (where they had churches), the other that it was near the Antonia Fortress (where they had churches).
In fourteenth century, Pope Clement VI achieved some consistency in route with the Bull, "Nuper Carissimae,"
establishing the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, and charging the friars with "the guidance, instruction, and
care of Latin pilgrims as well as with the guardianship, maintenance, defense and rituals of the Catholic shrines of
the Holy Land."[3] Beginning around 1350, Franciscan friars conducted official tours of the Via Dolorosa, from the
Holy Sepulchre to the House of Pilate-opposite the direction traveled by Christ in Bible.[4] The route was not
reversed until c. 1517 when the Franciscans began to follow the events of Christ’s Passion chronologically-setting
out from the House of Pilate and ending with the crucifixion at Golgotha.[5]
From the onset of Franciscan administration, the development of the Via Dolorosa was intimately linked to devotional
practices in Europe. The Friars Minor were ardent proponents of devotional meditation as a means to access and
understand the Passion. The hours and guides they produced, such as Meditaciones vite Christi (MVC), were widely
circulated in Europe.
Necessarily, such devotional literature expanded on the terse accounts of the Via Dolorosa in the Bible; the period
of time between Christ’s condemnation by Pilate and his resurrection receives no more than one or two lines in all
four gospels. Throughout the fourteenth century, a number of events, marked by stations on the Via Dolorosa, emerged
in devotional literature and on the physical site in Jerusalem.
The first stations to appear in pilgrimage accounts were the Encounter with Simon of Cyrene and the Daughters of
Jerusalem.These were followed by a host of other, more or less ephemeral, stations, such as the House of Veronica,
the House of Simon the Pharisee, the House of the Evil Rich Man Who Would Not Give Alms to the Poor, and the House of
Herod.[6] In his book, The Stations of the Cross, Herbert Thurston notes: "…Whether we look to the sites which,
according to the testimony of travelers, were held in honor in Jerusalem itself, or whether we look to the imitation
pilgrimages which were carved in stone or set down in books for the devotion of the faithful at home, we must
recognize that there was a complete want of any sort of uniformity in the enumeration of the Stations."[7]
This negotiation of stations, between the European imagination and the physical site would continue for the next six
centuries. Only in the 19th century was there general accord on the position of the first, fourth, fifth, and eighth
stations. Ironically, archaeological discoveries in the 20th century now indicate that the early route of the Via
Dolorosa on the Western hill was actually a more realistic path.[8]
The equation of the present Via Dolorosa with the biblical route is based on the assumption that the Praetorium was
adjacent to the Antonia Fortress. However, like Philo, the late-first-century writer Josephus testifies that the
Roman governors stayed in Herod's palace while they were in Jerusalem,[9] carried out their judgements on the
pavement immediately outside it, and had those found guilty flogged there;[10] Josephus indicates that Herod's palace
is on the western hill,[11] and it has recently (2001) been rediscovered under a corner of the Jaffa Gate citadel.
Furthermore, it is now confirmed by archaeology that prior to Hadrian's 2nd-century alterations, the area adjacent to
the Antonia Fortress was a large open-air pool of water[8]
In 2009, Israeli archaeologist Shimon Gibson found the remains of a large paved courtyard south of the Jaffa Gate
between two fortification walls with an outer gate and an inner one leading to a barracks. The courtyard contained a
raised platform of around 2 square metres (22 sq ft). A survey of the ruins of the Praetorium, long thought to be the
Roman barracks, indicated it was no more than a watchtower. These findings together "correspond perfectly" with the
route as described in the Gospels and matched details found in other ancient writings.
The route traced by Gibson begins in a parking lot in the Armenian Quarter, then passes the Ottoman walls of the Old
City next to the Tower of David near the Jaffa Gate before turning towards the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The new
research also indicates the crucifixion site is around 20 metres (66 ft) from the traditionally accepted site.[12]
[13]
Current Traditional Stations --
The traditional route starts just inside the Lions' Gate (St. Stephen's Gate), at the Umariya Elementary School, near
the location of the former Antonia Fortress, and makes its way westward through the Old City to the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre. The current enumeration is partly based on a circular devotional walk, organised by the Franciscans
in the 14th century; their devotional route, heading east along the Via Dolorosa (the opposite direction to the usual
westward pilgrimage), began and ended at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also passing through both Gethsemene and
Mount Zion during its course.
Whereas the names of many roads in Jerusalem are translated into English, Hebrew, and Arabic for their signs, the
name Via Dolorosa is used in all three languages.
Trial by Pilate: stations one and two --
The Monastery of the Flagellation --
The first and second stations commemorate the events of Jesus' encounter with Pontius Pilate, the former in memorial
of the biblical account of the trial and Jesus' subsequent scourging,[14] and the latter in memorial of the Ecce Homo
speech, attributed by the Gospel of John to Pilate.[15] On the site are three early 19th-century Roman Catholic
churches, taking their names from these events; the Church of the Condemnation and Imposition of the Cross, Church of
the Flagellation, and Church of Ecce Homo; a large area of Roman paving, beneath these structures, was traditionally
regarded as the pavement (Greek: lithostratos) described by the Bible as the location of Pilate's judgment of Jesus.
[16]
However, as mentioned above, scholars are now fairly certain that Pilate carried out his judgements at Herod's Palace
at the southwest side of the city, rather than at this point in the city's northeast corner.[8] Archaeological
studies have confirmed that the Roman pavement, at these two traditional stations, was built by Hadrian as the
flooring of the eastern of two Forums.[8] Prior to Hadrian's changes, the area had been a large open-air pool of
water, the Strouthion Pool mentioned by Josephus;[8] the pool still survives, under vaulting added by Hadrian so that
the Forum could be built over it, and can be accessed from the portion of Roman paving under the Convent of the
Sisters of Zion, and from the Western Wall Tunnel.
Adjacent to the Church of Ecce Homo is an arch, running across the Via Dolorosa; this arch was originally the central
arch of a triple-arched gateway, built by Hadrian as the main entrance to the aforementioned Forum.[8] When later
building works narrowed the Via Dolorosa, the two arches on either side of the central arch became incorporated into
a succession of buildings; on the northern side, the Church of Ecce Homo now preserves the north arch; on the
southern side, in the 16th century the south arch.
The three northern churches were gradually built after the site was partially acquired in 1857 by Marie-Alphonse
Ratisbonne, a Jesuit who intended to use it as a base for proselytism against Judaism.[17] The most recent church of
the three - the Church of the Flagellation - was built during the 1920s; above the high altar, under the central
dome, is a mosaic on a golden ground showing The Crown of Thorns Pierced by Stars, and the church also contains
modern stained-glass windows depicting Christ Scourged at the Pillar, Pilate Washing his Hands, and the Freeing of
Barabbas. The Convent, which includes the Church of Ecce Homo, was the first part of the complex to be built, and
contains the most extensive archaeological remains. Prior to Ratisbonne's purchase, the site had lain in ruins for
many centuries; the Crusaders had previously constructed a set of buildings here, but they were later
abandoned[clarification needed].
The three falls: stations three, seven, and nine --
The exterior of the Polish Catholic Chapel at the third station
Although no such thing is recounted by the canonical Gospels, and no official Christian tenet makes these claims,
popular tradition has it that Jesus stumbled three times during his walk along the route; this belief is currently
manifested in the identification of the three stations at which these falls occurred. The tradition of the three
falls appears to be a faded memory of an earlier belief in The Seven Falls;[18] these were not necessarily literal
falls, but rather depictions of Jesus coincidentally being prostrate, or nearly so, during performance of some other
activity. In the (then) famous late-15th-century depiction of the Seven Falls, by Adam Krafft, there is only one of
the Falls that is actually on the subject of Jesus stumbling under the weight of the cross, the remaining Falls being
either encounters with people on the journey, the crucifixion itself, or the removal of the dead body from the cross.
The ninth station, signified by the black disc on the wall. The alley is parallel to the Via Dolorosa, but some way
to its south
The first fall is represented by the current third station, located at the west end of the eastern fraction of the
Via Dolorosa, adjacent to the 19th-century Polish Catholic Chapel; this chapel was constructed by the Armenian
Catholics, who though ethnically Armenian, are actually based in Poland. The 1947-48 renovations, to the 19th-century
chapel, were carried out with the aid of a large financial grant from the Polish army. The site was previously one of
the city's Turkish baths.
The second fall is represented by the current seventh station, located at a major crossroad junction, adjacent to a
Franciscan chapel, built in 1875. In Hadrian's era, this was the junction of the main cardo (north-south road), with
the decumanus (east-west road) which became the Via Dolorosa; the remains of a tetrapylon, which marked this Roman
junction, can be seen in the lower level of the Franciscan chapel. Prior to the 16th century, this location was the
8th and last station.[1]
The third fall is represented by the current ninth station, which is not actually located on the Via Dolorosa,
instead being located at the entrance to the Ethiopian Orthodox Monastery and the Coptic Orthodox Monastery of Saint
Anthony, which together form the roof structure of the subterranean Chapel of Saint Helena in the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre; the Coptic and Ethiopian Orthodox churches split in 1959, and prior to that time the monastic buildings
were considered a single Monastery. However, in the early 16th century, the third fall was located at the entrance
courtyard to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and an engraved stone cross signifying this still remains in situ.
Prior to the 15th century, the final station occurred before this point would even have been reached.[1]
[edit]The Encounters
The Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem - empty by night
Four stations commemorate encounters between Jesus and other people, in the city streets; one encounter is mentioned
in all the Synoptic Gospels, one is mentioned only in the Gospel of Luke, and the remaining two encounters only exist
in popular tradition.
With Mary, Jesus' mother: Fourth station --
The New Testament makes no mention of a meeting between Jesus and his mother, during the walk to his crucifixion, but
popular tradition introduces one. The fourth station, the location of a 19th-century Armenian Orthodox oratory,
commemorates the events of this tradition; a lunette, over the entrance to the chapel, references these events by
means of a bas-relief carved by the Polish artist Zieliensky. The oratory, named Our Lady of the Spasm, was built in
1881, but its crypt preserves some archaeological remains from former Byzantine buildings on the site, including a
mosaic floor.
With Simon of Cyrene: Fifth station --
The fifth station refers to the biblical episode in which Simon of Cyrene takes Jesus' cross, and carries it for him.
[19] Although this narrative is included in the three Synoptic Gospels, the Gospel of John does not mention Simon of
Cyrene[20] but instead emphasizes the portion of the journey during which Jesus carried the cross himself.[21] The
current traditional site for the station is located at the east end of the western fraction of the Via Dolorosa,
adjacent to the Chapel of Simon of Cyrene, a Franciscan construction built in 1895. An inscription, in the architrave
of one of the Chapel doors, references the Synoptic events.
Prior to the 15th century, this location was instead considered to be the House of the Poor Man, and honoured as the
fifth station for that reason;[22] the name refers to the Lukan tale of Lazarus and Dives,[23] this Lazarus being a
beggar, and Dives being the Latin word for [one who is] Rich. Adjacent to the alleged House of the Poor Man is an
arch over the road; the house on the arch was thought to be the corresponding House of the Rich Man.[22] The houses
in question, however, only date to the Middle Ages,[24] and the narrative of Lazarus and Dives is now widely held to
be a parable.[25][26][27]
[edit]With Veronica: Sixth station
A medieval Roman Catholic legend viewed a specific piece of cloth, known as the Veil of Veronica, as having been
supernaturally imprinted with Jesus' image, by physical contact with Jesus' face. By metathesis of the Latin words
vera icon (meaning true image) into Veronica,[28] it came to be said that the Veil of Veronica had gained its image
when a Saint Veronica encountered Jesus, and wiped the sweat from his face with the cloth; no element of this legend
is present in the bible, although the similar Image of Edessa is mentioned in The Epistles of Jesus Christ and
Abgarus King of Edessa, a late piece of New Testament apocrypha. The Veil of Veronica relates to a pre-Crucifixion
image, and is distinct from the post-Crucifixion Holy Face image, often related to the Shroud of Turin.
The current sixth station of the Via Dolorosa commemorates this legendary encounter between Jesus and Veronica. The
location was identified as the site of the encounter in the 19th century; in 1883, Greek Roman Catholics purchased
the 12th-century ruins at the location, and built the Church of the Holy Face and Saint Veronica on them, claiming
that Veronica had encountered Jesus outside her own house, and that the house had formerly been positioned at this
spot. The church includes some of the remains of the 12th-century buildings which had formerly been on the site,
including arches from the Crusader-built Monastery of Saint Cosmas. The present building is administered by the
Little Sisters of Jesus, and is not generally open to the public.
With Pious Women: Eighth station --
The Eighth station commemorates an episode described by the Gospel of Luke, alone among the canonical gospels, in
which Jesus encounters pious women on his journey, and is able to stop and give a sermon.[29] However, prior to the
15th century the final station in Jesus' walk was believed to occur at a point earlier on the Via Dolorosa, before
this location would have been reached. The present eighth station is adjacent to the Greek Orthodox Monastery of
Saint Charalampus; it is marked by the word Nika (a Greek word meaning Victory) carved into the wall, and an embossed
cross.
Modern re-enactments and processions --
Reenacting the Stations of the Cross in the Via Dolorosa
Each Friday, a Roman Catholic procession walks the Via Dolorosa route, starting out at the monastic complex by the
first station; the procession is organised by the Franciscans of this monastery, who also lead the procession. Acted
re-enactments also regularly take place on the route, ranging from amateur productions with, for example, soldiers
wearing plastic helmets and vivid red polyester wraps, to more professional drama with historically accurate clothing
and props.
Read More
The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer is the only Protestant
church in the Old City of Jerusalem. Built between 1893 and
1898 by the architect Paul Ferdinand Groth (*1859-1955*)
following the designs of Friedrich Adler, the Church of the
Redeemer currently houses Lutheran congregations that
worship in Arabic, German, Danish, and English. The church
also serves as the headquarters of Bishop Munib Younan of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.
Built on land given to King William I of Prussia (after 1870
Kaiser Wilhelm I) in 1869 by Sultan Abdülaziz of the Ottoman
Empire, the church was constructed from 1892-1898. The
location had been the site of the old church of St. Mary
Minor.[1] In 1898, Kaiser Wilhelm II made a trip to
Jerusalem to personally dedicate the new church.[2] For the
dedication of the church, the Kaiser entered the city on
horse back through to specially made ceremonial arches, one
a gift of the Ottoman Empire and one a gift from the local
Jewish community.[3]. The church was dedicated on
Reformation Day, 1898. At the dedication, Wilhelm said:
From Jerusalem came the light in splendor from which the
German nation became great and glorious; and what the
Germanic peoples have become, they became under the banner
of the cross, the emblem of self-sacrificing charity.
[4]
In the garden next to the church is a memorial marking the
location of the crusader headquarters of the Order of the
Knights of St. John.[5]
Read More
With Jewish independence restored in the mid second century
BCE, the Hasmoneans quickly launched an effort to populate
and fortify the Upper City, the western hill abandoned after
the Babylonian sacking of Jerusalem. According to 1
Maccabees 10, 10-11, "Jonathan dwelt in Jerusalem and began
to rebuild and restore the city. He directed those who were
doing the work to build the walls and encircle Mount Zion
with squared stones, for better fortification; and they did
so."[26], while according to chapter 13, 10, Simon Maccabeus
"assembled all the warriors and hastened to complete the
walls of Jerusalem, and he fortified it on every side."[22]
These date the construction of the Hasmonean city wall, also
known as the first wall, between 142 and 134 BCE.
Encompassing the City of David and the western hill, the
walls were not entirely new but also incorporated elements
of the earlier fortifications, such as the Iron Age "Israeli
Tower" unearthed in the Jewish quarter. The wall stretched
from the Tower of Hippicus (near the site of the modern
Tower of David) eastward toward the Temple Mount, and south
to the Southwestern Hill (modern Mount Zion, a
misnomer[27]), then east to the Pool of Siloam, and finally
north, meeting the wall of the Temple Mount.[28]
Remains of the first wall can still be seen in several
places:
In the citadel known as the Tower of David.
In Mamilla, west of the contemporary city walls, where
remains of Hasmonean fortifications were unearthed.
In the Jewish Quarter, in and around the "Israeli Tower" and
the remains of what may have been the "garden gate"
mentioned by Josephus.
At the base of the eastern wall of the Temple Mount.
Once the walls were complete, the Upper City became the
residence of Jerusalem's rich and affluent citizens.
Read More
The Four Sephardic Synagogues are located in the Jewish
Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. They form a complex
which comprises four adjoining synagogues which were built
at different periods to accommodate the religious needs of
the Sephardic community, each congregation practising a
different rite.
With the closing of the Ramban Synagogue at the command of
the Ottoman sultan in 1589, there ceased to be a Jewish
house of prayer in Jerusalem and the Jews, many of whom were
descendants of immigrants who had arrived after the
expulsion from Spain in 1492, were forced to pray privately
in their own homes. At the beginning of the 17th century a
new synagogue, the Yochanan ben Zakai Synagogue, was
inaugurated.
In 1835 Muhammad Ali, viceroy of Egypt who ruled Jerusalem
at the time, permitted the refurbishment of the synagogues
which had been denied since their construction. At the
entrance to the Istanbuli Synagogue is a plaque
commemorating the restoration.
After the fall of the Jewish Quarter during the 1948 Arab-
Israeli War the synagogues were burnt and desecrated and
turned into horse stables. After the Six Day War the
synagogues were restored by architect Dan Tanai.
Yochanan ben Zakai Synagogue -
Installation of the Chacham Bashi of Jerusalem at the
synagogue in 1893
According to legend, the Yochanan ben Zakai Synagogue,
(Hebrew: בית הכנסת יוחנן בן זכאי), also known as Kahal
Kadosh Gadol, stands on the spot of the Beit Midrash of the
tanna Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai, who established the
Sanhedrin in Yavneh after the destruction of the Second
Temple. The current building was constructed at the
beginning of the 17th century.
A piece of land below street level was chosen for the
synagogue in order to conceal the building from the
authorities. Meir Ben Dov, however, is of the opinion that
the sub-street level plot wasn’t intentionally chosen, but
rather that street level itself was lower at the time and
the synagogue had protruded above the street. With time the
dwellings surrounding the synagogue were demolished and new
houses were built above them, while the synagogue itself was
preserved. This cycle continued until today, resulting in
the synagogue being situated below street level. It should
nevertheless be noted that if construction was indeed
permitted, the building itself had to comply with Muslim
restrictions for dhimmi houses of prayer not to be higher
than mosques.[1] Located in the old Jewish Quarter of
Jerusalem, it suffered the same fate as most the synagogues
in the area during the 19 year Jordanian occupation after
1948. It has been fully refurbished since Israel gained
control of the Old City during the Six Day War. This work
was initiated by Rabbi Meir Yehuda Getz, Rabbi of the
Western Wall, who also restored the Yeshivat haMekubalim to
its former glory.
Istanbuli Synagogue -
Antique steel engraving of the Istanbuli Synagogue, c.1825
As the Sephardi community of Jerusalem grew, a large group
of immigrants arrived from Istanbul, Turkey, who used the
adjacent building as a synagogue from 1764. Over time, the
Istanbuli Synagogue, (Hebrew: בית הכנסת האיסטנבולי),
attracted worshipers from the Eastern communities, including
Kurdistan and from North and West Africa. The Istanbuli
Synagogue is now used by a Spanish and Portuguese
congregation following mostly the London rite.
The Aron Kodesh dates from the seventeenth century and was
imported from a synagogue which had been destroyed in
Ancona, Italy. The bimah, constructed in the eighteenth
century, came from a synagogue in Pesaro, Italy. The
synagogue was renovated in 1836.
During the Israel War of Independence the synagogue was
occupied by Arabs. After Israel gained control of the Old
City during the Six Day War, it was renovated.
As the Istanbuli synagogue is the largest of the four, it is
used for the inauguration of the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of
Israel.
Eliahu Ha'navi Synagogue -
Another synagogue was established in the 16th century and
named after Elijah the Prophet. This synagogue is the oldest
of the four. The Eliyahu Ha'navi Synagogue mainly served as
a beth midrash for Torah study. Also known as Kahal Talmud
Torah, it was only used for prayer on festivals. According
to legend, the name of the synagogue was given after an
event that took place on Yom Kippur, when one person was
missing to complete the minyan required for prayer. Out of
the blue, a man, unknown to the worshippers, appeared and
the service was able to start. The man mysteriously
disappeared after the Neilah prayer. The people were sure
that the man was none other than Elijah the Prophet.
Emtsai Synagogue -
The Emtsai Synagogue or Middle Synagogue, (Hebrew: בית הכנסת
האמצעי), also known as the Kahal Tzion Synagogue, forms the
central chamber of the complex. It was originally a
courtyard which probably used as the women’s section of the
Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakai synagogue. During Sukkot it could
be converted into a sukkah for the worshippers. With the
growth of the community, it was decided during the middle of
the 18th century to roof the yard. It was turned into what
is today known as the Middle Synagogue, due to its location
in the "middle" of the other three synagogues.
Read More
The cardo (also cardo maximus) was a north-south oriented street in Roman cities, military camps, and
coloniae. The cardo, an integral component of city planning, was lined with shops and vendors, and
served as a hub of economic life.
Cardo in Roman city planning
Most Roman cities also had a Decumanus Maximus, an east-west street that served as a secondary main
street. Due to varying geography, in some cities the decumanus is the main street and the cardo is
secondary, but in general the cardo maximus served as the primary road. The Forum was normally
located at the intersection of the Decumanus and the Cardo.
The cardo was the "hinge" or axis of the city, derived from the same root as cardinal.
Jerusalem -
After the Jewish rebellion led by Simon Bar Kokhba was crushed by Hadrian 130s CE, Jerusalem was
destroyed. Hadrian built a Roman colony in its place, naming it Colonia Aelia Capitolina, after
himself.[1] Like many Roman colonies, Aelia Capitolina was laid out with a Hippodamian grid plan of
narrower streets and wider avenues.[2] The main north-south thoroughfare, the Cardo Maximus, was
originally a paved avenue approximately 22.5 meters wide (roughly the width of a six lane highway)
which ran southward from the site of the Damascus gate, terminating at an unknown point. The southern
addition to the Cardo, constructed under Justinian in the 6th century CE, extended the road further
south to connect the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with the newly-built Zion Gate.[3] Along its
length, the roadway was divided into three parts: two colonnaded covered walks flanking a 12 meter
wide road.[4] The shaded porticoes provided separation of pedestrian traffic from wheeled carts,
shelter from the elements, space for small-scale commerce, as well as opportunities for residents and
visitors to gather and interact.[5] The central open pavement provided commercial access as well as
ritual space. The Cardo’s most striking visual feature was its colonnade, clearly depicted on the
Madaba Map.
Simple bases supported monolithic shafts, spaced 5.77 meters apart.[6] The shafts supported
Byzantine-style Corinthian capitals – intricately carved, but more stylized versions of their
Classical counterparts. Although this combination of elements was uniform the preserved examples
display some variation in the profile and size of the bases, and in the pattern of the capitals.[7]
Despite aesthetic differences, the approximate height of the base, column, and capital units of the
colonnade was five meters, a height which contributed to the spaciousness of the porticoes.[8] The
wall of the Cardo’s eastern portico featured an arcade that housed various stalls and workshops
leased by craftsmen and merchants.[9]
The line of the Cardo Maximus is still visible on Jewish Quarter Street, though the original pavement
lies several meters below the modern street level. In the 7th century, when Jerusalem fell under
Muslim rule, the Cardo became an Arab-style marketplace. Remains of the Byzantine Cardo were found in
the Jewish Quarter excavations beginning in 1969.[10]
In 1971, a plan for preserving the ancient street was submitted by architects Peter Bogod, Esther
Krendel and Shlomo Aronson.[11] Their proposal relied heavily on the sixth century Madaba map, a
mosaic map of Jerusalem found in 1897 in Madaba, Jordan. The map clearly showed the Roman Cardo as
the main artery through the Old City. The architects proposed a covered shopping arcade that would
preserve the style of an ancient Roman street using contemporary materials. Their plan was based on
the hope that archeologists would find remains of the southern end of the Cardo, an extension of the
north-south Roman thoroughfare built during the Byzantine era (324 – 638).
Time was of the essence and mounting pressure to repopulate the Jewish Quarter led to the
construction of a superstructure which allowed the residential buildings to be built while the
archaeologists continued to work below. The project was 180 meters in total and was divided into
eight sections to allow for construction teams to move quickly from one section to another. By 1980,
37 housing units and 35 shops were built, incorporating archaeological finds such as a Hasmonean wall
from the second century BCE and rows of Byzantine columns. The combination of old and new is also
visible on the Street of the Jews, where the shops have been set into old vaults and the gallery is
covered by an arched roof containing small apertures to allow for natural lighting.
Beit She'an --
Petra --
The excavations at Petra in Jordan have unearthed the remains of an ancient Roman city on the site,
with the main feature of the city being a colonnaded cardo. The original road survives.
Apamea, Syria -
The Cardo Maximus of Apamea, Syria ran through the center of the city directly from North to South,
linked the principal gates of the city, and was originally surrounded by 1200 columns with unique
spiral fluting, each subsequent column spiraling in the opposite direction. The thoroughfare was
about 1.85 kilometers long and 37 meters wide, as it was used for wheeled transport. The great
colonnade was erected in the 2nd century and it was still standing until the 12th. The earthquakes of
1157 and 1170 demolished the colonnade. The cardo was lined on both sides with civic and religious
buildings.
Read More
The Western Wall Tunnel (Hebrew: מנהרת הכותל, translit.: Minheret Hakotel) is an
underground tunnel exposing the Western Wall in its full length. The tunnel is adjacent
to the Western Wall and is located under buildings of the Old City of Jerusalem,
Israel. While the open-air portion of the Western Wall is approximately 60 m long, the
majority of its original length is hidden underground. The tunnel allows access to an
additional 485 meters of the wall.
History --
Main article: Western Wall
In 19 CE, King Herod undertook a project to double the area of the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem by incorporating part of the hill on the Northwest. In order to do so, four
retaining walls were constructed, and the Temple Mount was expanded on top of them.
These retaining walls remained standing, along with the platform itself, after the
Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE; but since then much of the area next to
them became covered and built upon.[1] Part of the Western Wall remained exposed after
the destruction of the Temple; since it was the closest area to the Temple’s Holy of
Holies that remained accessible, it became a place of Jewish prayer for millennia.[2]
Excavation --
Concrete supports are used to reinforce the ancient streets above in Jerusalem's Muslim
Quarter. At the end of this tunnel is the northern exit, which alleviated the need for
turning around at the far end and having two-way traffic flow in the narrow corridor.
British researchers started excavating the Western Wall in the mid 19th century.
Charles Wilson in 1864 followed by Charles Warren in 1867-70. Wilson discovered an arch
"Wilson’s Arch" which was 12.8 meters wide and is above present-day ground level. It is
believed that the arch supported a bridge which connected the Temple Mount to the city
during the Second Temple Period.[3] Warren dug shafts through Wilson’s Arch which are
still visible today.[4]
After the Six Day War, the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Israel began the
excavations aimed at exposing the continuation of the Western Wall. The excavations
lasted almost twenty years and revealed many previously unknown facts about the history
and geography of the Temple Mount. The excavations were difficult to conduct, as the
tunnels ran below residential neighborhoods constructed on top of ancient structures
from the Second Temple Period. The excavations were conducted with the supervision of
scientific and rabbinc experts. This was to ensure both the stability of the structures
above and to prevent damaging the historic artifacts.[5] In 1988 the Western Wall
Heritage Foundation was formed,[6] it took over the excavation,[7] maintenance and
renovations of the Western Wall and Western Wall Plaza.[8]
Features --
The tunnel exposes a total length of 485 m of the wall, revealing the methods of
construction and the various activities in the vicinity of the Temple Mount.[9] The
excavations included many archaeological finds along the way, including discoveries
from the Herodian period (streets, monumental masonry), sections of a reconstruction of
the Western Wall dating to the Umayyad period, and various structures dating to the
Ayyubid, Mamluke and Hasmonean periods constructed to support buildings in the vicinity
of the Temple Mount.
"Warren's Gate" lies about 150 feet into the tunnel. This sealed-off entrance has been
turned into a small synagogue called "The Cave", by Rabbi Yehuda Getz, since it is the
closest point a Jew can get to the Holy of Holies, assuming it was located at the
traditional site under the Dome of the Rock.
At the northern portion of the Western Wall, remains of a water channel, which
originally supplied water to the Temple Mount, were found. The exact source of the
channel is unknown, though it passes through an underground pool known as the
"Strouthion Pool". The water channel was dated to the Hasmonean period and was
accordingly dubbed the "Hasmonean Channel".
The biggest stone in the Western Wall often called the Western Stone is also revealed
within the tunnel and ranks as one of the heaviest objects ever lifted by human beings
without powered machinery. The stone has a length of 13.6 meters and an estimated width
of between 3.5 and 4.5 meters; estimates place its weight at 570 short tons.
Adjacent to the tunnel lies a museum called "The Chain of Generations Center," designed
by Eliav Nahlieli. The impressive site, which incorporates ancient and modern Jewish
history, includes an elaborate audiovisual show, and nine magnificent glass sculptures
created by glass artist Jeremy Langford.
In 2007 the Israel Antiquities Authority uncovered an ancient Roman street, thought to
be from the second to fourth centuries. It was a side street which likely connected two
major roads, and led up to the Temple Mount. The discovery of the road gave further
evidence that Romans continued to use the Temple Mount after the destruction of the
temple in 70 CE.[10]
Strouthion Pool --
Struthion Pool is a large cuboid cistern, which gathered the rainwater from guttering
on the Forum buildings. Prior to Hadrian, this cistern had been an open-air pool, but
Hadrian added arch vaulting to enable the pavement to be placed over it. The existence
of the pool in the first century is attested by Josephus, who reports that it was
called Struthius (literally meaning sparrow).[11] This Struthion Pool was originally
built as part of an open-air water conduit by the Hasmoneans, which has since been
enclosed; the source of the water for this conduit is currently unidentified.
As a result of 1971 extensions to the original Western Wall Tunnel, the Hasmonean water
system became linked to the end of the Western Wall Tunnel; although they run under
Arab housing, and later opened as a tourist attraction. The attraction has a linear
route, starting at the Western Wall Plaza, passing through the modern tunnels, then the
ancient water system, and ending at the Strouthion Pool; as the Sisters of Zion were
not willing to allow tourists to exit into the Convent of the Sisters of Zion via the
Strouthion Pool, tourists had to return through the narrow tunnels to their starting
point, creating logistical issues.
The northern exit and riots --
Originally, tourists in the tunnel had to retrace their steps back to the entrance. A
connection to the Hasmonean water system was made, but this still required tourists to
eventually make a U-turn once they had reached the Strouthion Pool.
Digging an alternative exit from the tunnel was proposed, but initially rejected on the
grounds that any exit would be seen as an attempt by the Jewish authorities to stake a
claim to ownership of the nearby land - part of the Muslim Quarter of the city; in
1996, however, Benjamin Netanyahu organised the blasting open of an exit into the
grounds of the Ummariya madrasah, adjacent to the Via Dolorosa. Over the subsequent few
weeks, 80 people had been killed as a result of riots against the creation of the exit.
[12] A modern wall divides the Struthion pool into two parts, preventing access between
them; one side is visible from the western wall tunnels, the other is area accessible
from the Convent of the Sisters of Zion. Since then, it has been possible for large
numbers of tourists to enter the tunnel's southern entrance near the Western Wall, walk
the tunnel's length with a tour guide, and exit from the northern end.
Read More
The Western Wall (Hebrew: הכותל המערבי, translit.: HaKotel HaMa'aravi), Wailing Wall or
Kotel (lit. Wall; Ashkenazic pronunciation: Kosel); and known by Arabs as Ḥā'iṭ Al-Burāq,
is located in the Old City of Jerusalem at the foot of the western side of the Temple
Mount. It is a remnant of the ancient wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple's courtyard
and is one of the most sacred sites in Judaism outside of the Temple Mount itself. Just
over half the wall, including its 17 courses located below street level, dates from the
end of the Second Temple period, being constructed around 19 BCE by Herod the Great. The
remaining layers were added from the 7th century onwards. The Western Wall refers not only
to the exposed section facing a large plaza in the Jewish Quarter, but also to the
sections concealed behind structures running along the whole length of the Temple Mount,
such as the Little Western Wall - a 25 ft (8 m) section in the Muslim Quarter.
It has been a site for Jewish prayer and pilgrimage for centuries, the earliest source
mentioning Jewish attachment to the site dating from the 4th century. From the mid-19th
century onwards, attempts to purchase rights to the wall and its immediate area were made
by various Jews, but none were successful. With the rise of the Zionist movement in the
early 20th-century, the wall became a source of friction between the Jewish community and
the Muslim religious leadership, who were worried that the wall was being used to further
Jewish nationalistic claims to the Temple Mount and Jerusalem. Outbreaks of violence at
the foot of the wall became commonplace and an international commission was convened in
1930 to determine the rights and claims of Muslims and Jews in connection with the wall.
After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War the wall came under Jordanian control and Jews were barred
from the site for 19 years until Israel captured the Old City in 1967.
Etymology --
Charles Wilson, 1881. (Picturesque Palestine, vol. 1, p. 41).[1]
Early Jewish texts referred to a "western wall of the Temple",[2] but there is doubt
whether the texts were referring to today’s Western Wall or to another wall which stood
within the Temple complex. The earliest clear Jewish use of the term Western Wall as
referring to the wall visible today was by the 11th-century Ahimaaz ben Paltiel. The name
"Wailing Wall", and descriptions such as "wailing place" appeared regularly in English
literature during the 19th century.[3][4][5] The name Mur des Lamentations was used in
French and Klagemauer in German. This term itself was a translation of the Arabic el-
Mabka, or "Place of Weeping," the traditional Arabic term for the wall.[6] This
description stemmed from the Jewish practice of coming to the site to mourn and bemoan the
destruction of the Temple. During the 1920s with the growing Arab-Jewish tensions over
rights at the wall, the Arabs began referring to the wall as al-Buraq. This was based on
the tradition that the wall was the place where Muhammad tethered his miraculous winged
steed, Buraq.
Location and dimensions --
Panorama of the Western Wall with the Dome of the Rock (left) and al-Aqsa mosque (right)
in the background
The Western Wall commonly refers to a 187 foot (57 m) exposed section of ancient wall
situated on the western flank of the Temple Mount. This section faces a large plaza and is
set aside for prayer. In its entirety, however, the above ground portion of the Western
Wall stretches for 1,600 feet (488 m), most of which is hidden behind residential
structures built along its length. Other revealed sections include the southern part of
the Wall which measures approximately 80 metres (262 ft) and another much shorter section
known as the Little Western Wall which is located close to the Iron Gate. The wall
functions as a retaining wall, built to support the extensive renovations that Herod the
Great carried out around 19 BCE. Herod expanded the small quasi-natural plateau on which
the First and Second Temples stood into the wide expanse of the Temple Mount visible
today.
At the Western Wall Plaza, the total height of the Wall from its foundation is estimated
at 105 feet (32 m), with the exposed section standing approximately 62 feet (19 m) high.
The Wall consists of 45 stone courses, 28 of them above ground and 17 underground.[7] The
first seven visible layers are from the Herodian period. This section of wall is built
from enormous meleke limestone stones, possibly quarried at either Zedekiah's Cave[8]
situated under the Muslim Quarter of the Old City or at Ramat Shlomo[9] four kilometers
northwest of the Old City. Most of them weigh between two and eight tons each, but others
weigh even more, with one extraordinary stone located in the northern section of Wilson's
Arch measuring 13 metres and weighing approximately 570 tons. Each of these stones is
surrounded by fine-chiseled borders. The margins themselves measure between 5 and 20
centimetres (2 and 8 in) wide, with their depth measuring 1.5 centimetres (0.59 in). In
the Herodian period, the upper 10 metres (33 ft) of wall were 1 metre (39 in) thick and
served as the other wall of the double colonnade of the plateau. This upper section was
decorated with pilasters, the remainder of which were destroyed at the beginning of the
7th century when the Byzantines reconquered Jerusalem from the Persians and their Jewish
allies in 628.[10]
The next four layers were added by Umayyads in the 7th century. The next fourteen layers
are from the Ottoman period and their addition is attributed to Sir Moses Montefiore who
in 1866 arranged that further layers be added "for shade and protection from the rain for
all who come to pray by the holy remnant of our Temple". The top three layers were placed
by the Mufti of Jerusalem before 1967.[11]
History --
Construction 19 BCE --
Engraving, 1850
According to the Tanakh, Solomon's Temple was built atop the Temple Mount in the 10th
century BCE and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. The Second Temple was completed
and dedicated in 516 BCE. In around 19 BCE Herod the Great began a massive expansion
project on the Temple Mount. He artificially expanded the area which resulted in an
enlarged platform. Today's Western Wall formed part of the retaining perimeter wall of
this platform. Herod's Temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire, along with the rest of
Jerusalem, in 70 CE during the First Jewish-Roman War.
Roman Empire and rise of Christianity 100–500 CE --
In the early centuries of the Common Era, after the Roman defeat of the Bar Kokhba revolt
in 135 CE, Jews were banned from Jerusalem. There is some evidence that Roman emperors in
the 2nd and 3rd centuries did permit them to visit the city to worship on the Mount of
Olives and sometimes on the Temple Mount itself.[12] When the empire became Christian
under Constantine I, they were given permission to enter the city once a year, on the
ninth day of the month of Av, to lament the loss of the Temple at the wall.[13] The
Bordeaux Pilgrim, written in 333 CE, suggests that it was probably to the perforated stone
or the Rock of Moriah, "to which the Jews come every year and anoint it, bewail themselves
with groans, rend their garments, and so depart". This was because an Imperial decree from
Rome barred Jews from living in Jerusalem. Just once per year they were permitted to
return and bitterly grieve about the fate of their people. Comparable accounts survive,
including those by the Church Father, Gregory of Nazianzus and by Jerome in his commentary
to Zephaniah written in the year 392 CE. In the 4th century, Christian sources reveal that
the Jews encountered great difficulty in buying the right to pray near the Western Wall,
at least on the 9th of Av.[12] In 425 CE, the Jews of the Galilee wrote to Byzantine
empress Aelia Eudocia seeking permission to pray by the ruins of the Temple. Permission
was granted and they were officially permitted to resettle in Jerusalem.[1...
Read More
The Islamic Museum is a museum on the Temple Mount in the
Old City of Jerusalem. On display are exhibits from ten
periods of Islamic history encompassing several Muslim
regions. The museum is located adjacent to al-Aqsa Mosque.
History
The building was originally constructed by the Knights
Templar, who used it as an annex to their headquarters
established at the former Al-Aqsa Mosque. Following the
Muslim reconquest of Jerusalem, the mosque was restored. The
annex building served an assembly hall for the Fakhr al-Din
Mohammad School, a madrasa built by al-Mansur Qalawun in
1282 CE, during the Mamluk era.[1] The museum was
established by the Supreme Muslim Council in 1923. Shadia
Yousef Touqan was the head planner of the site.[1] Khader
Salameh is the head curator of the museum.[2]
[edit]Exhibits
The Islamic Museum displays large copper soup kettles used
in the Khasseki Sultan soup kitchen, built through a
donation by the wife of Suleiman the Magnificent, dating
back to the 16th century, as well as stained glass windows,
wooden panels, ceramic tiles and iron doors from the reign
of Suleiman the Magnificent. Also on display are a cannon
used to announce the breaking of Ramadan, a large collection
of weapons, a large wax tree trunk, the charred remains of a
minbar built by Nur ad-Din Zangi in the 1170s and destroyed
by an Australian tourist in 1969, and the blood-stained
clothing of 17 Palestinians killed in the rioting on the
Temple Mount in 1990.[2]
Qur'an manuscripts --
The museum has 600 copies of the Qur'an donated to the al-
Aqsa Mosque during the Umayyad, Abbasid, Fatimid, Ayyubid,
Mamluk, Ottoman eras by caliphs, sultans, emirs, ulama and
private individuals. Each differ in size, calligraphy and
ornamentation. One is a hand-written Qur'an whose
transcription is attributed to the great-great grandson of
Muhammad.[3] Another is written in Kufic script dating back
to the 8th-9th century. A 30-part Moroccan Rab’ah was
bequeathed by Sultan Abu al-Hasan al-Marini of Morocco, the
only manuscript remaining from three collections that the
sultan dispatched to the mosques of the three holy cities in
Islam - Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem.[3] In addition, there
is a very large Qur'an measuring 100 centimeters by 90
centimeters dating back to the 14th century.[2]
Read More
Solomon's Stables (Hebrew: אורוות שלמה) is the popular name for an underground
vaulted space on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Solomon's Stables are located
under the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount, 12½ metres below the
courtyard and feature twelve rows of pillars and arches.
History --
The structure was built by King Herod as part of his extension of the platform
of the Temple Mount southward onto the ophel. The Herodian engineers
constructed the enormous platform as a series of vaulted arches in order to
reduce pressure on the retaining walls. "[1] A great deal of the original
interior survives in the area of the Herodian staircases, although not in the
area now renovated for use as a mosque.[1] Visitors are rarely permitted ot
enter the areas with Herodian finishes.[1]
The structure has been called Solomon's Stables since Crusader times.[citation
needed]
Modern construction --
In 1996, the waqf built a modern mosque there, with a capacity for 7,000
worshipers.
The Southern Wall of the Temple Mount showing damaged area and criticized
repair job as a bright white patch to right.
In 1997, the waqf began digging up the southeastern area of the Temple Mount,
drawing criticism from archaeologists, who said that archaeological finds were
being damaged in the process and the excavations weakened the stability of the
Southern Wall. The excavations are thought to have been responsible for
creating a large, visible bulge in the Southern Wall that threatened the
structural integrity of the Temple Mount, necessitating major repairs.[2] The
repairs have been called "unsightly", an "eyesore", and a "terrible job"
because they appear as a large, bright, white patch of smooth stones in a
golden tan wall of rusticated ashlar.[2]
Artifacts --
The soil removed from the dig was dumped near the Mount of Olives and a
salvage operation, the Temple Mount Antiquities Salvage Operation was
undertaken in order to sift through the debris for archaeological remains.
Many important finds have turned up.[3]
Popular culture -
In popular culture, the area has become associated with the Knights Templar
due to a claim in the 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code that the order maintained
its headquarters here.
Read More
The Golden Gate, as it is called in Christian literature, is
the oldest of the current gates in Jerusalem's Old City
Walls. According to Jewish tradition, the Shekhinah (שכינה)
(Divine Presence) used to appear through this gate, and will
appear again when the Messiah comes (Ezekiel 44:1–3) and a
new gate replaces the present one; that is why Jews used to
pray for mercy at the former gate at this location.[1] Hence
the name Sha'ar Harachamim (שער הרחמים), the Gate of Mercy.
In Christian apocryphal texts, the gate was the scene of a
meeting between the parents of Mary, so that Joachim and
Anne Meeting at the Golden Gate became a standard subject in
cycles depicting the Life of the Virgin. It is also said
that Jesus passed through this gate on Palm Sunday. In
Arabic, it is known as the Gate of Eternal Life. In ancient
times, the gate was known as the Beautiful Gate.
Remains of a much older gate dating to the times of the
Second Jewish Temple were found.[2] The present one was
probably built in the 520s AD, as part of Justinian I's
building program in Jerusalem, on top of the ruins of the
earlier gate in the wall. An alternate theory holds that it
was built in the later part of the 7th century by Byzantine
artisans employed by the Umayyad khalifs.
The gate is located in the middle of the eastern side of the
Temple Mount. The portal in this position was believed to
have been used for ritual purposes in biblical times.
In Jewish tradition, this is the gate through which the
Messiah will enter Jerusalem. Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I
sealed off the Golden Gate in 1541 to prevent the Messiah's
entrance. The Muslims also built a cemetery in front of the
gate, in the belief that the precursor to the Messiah,
Elijah, would not be able to pass through, since he is a
Kohen.[citation needed] This belief is erroneous because a
Kohen is permitted to enter a cemetery in which primarily
non-Jews are buried.
The Golden Gate is one of the few sealed gates in
Jerusalem's Old City Walls, along with the Huldah Gates, and
a small Biblical and Crusader-era postern located several
stories above ground on the southern side of the eastern
wall.
Read More
Fountain of Qayt Bay or Sabil Qaitbay is a domed public fountain (sabil) located on the western
esplanade of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City,[1] situated fifty meters west of the Dome of
the Rock.[2] Built by the Mamluks in the fifteenth century, it has been called "the most beautiful
edifice in the [Temple Mount]" after the Dome of the Rock.[3][4]
History --
The fountain was originally constructed in 1455 on the orders of the Mamluk sultan al-Ashraf Sayf
ad-Din Enal. In 1482, however, Sultan Qaitbay had it rebuilt, and the structure is named after him.
The labor of erecting the building was done by Egyptian and Circassian craftsmen under the
supervision of a renowned Christian architect. The fountain was constructed in a style mostly seen
in Egypt. In 1883, the Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II restored the fountain and constructed some
additions to it.[3]
Architecture -
Structure -
Placed on a raised prayer platform, together with a freestanding mihrab,[1] the Fountain of Qayt Bay
is a three-tiered structure over 13 meters high, consisting of a base, a transition zone and its
dome.[4]
The tallest part of the fountain is the base,[4] which is a simple square room built in an ablaq
construction method of blending red and cream stones, with wide grilled windows and a small
entrance.[1] The windows are located on three sides of the building, and there are four steps
leading up to the windows on the northern and the western sides, as well as a large stone bench
beneath the southern window. On the eastern wall of the fountain, four semi-circular steps lead up
to the entrance door.[2]
The complex zone of transition steps in several stages from the square base to the round and high
drum that merges into the dome itself. At its peak, the building is crowned by a pointed dome
decorated with low-relief arabesque stone carvings.[1] The dome is crowned by a bronze crescent,
which, unlike other crescents in the sanctuary, faces east and west.[2] It is the only significant
dome of its kind that exists outside Cairo.[1]
On all four sides of the fountain are ornate inscriptions containing Qur'anic verses, details of the
original Mamluk building and the 1883 renovation of the structure. Mamluk-era star-pattern strap
work details the building interior, but the external lintels are from the Ottoman era of rule in
Palestine.[3] The 1883 renovation largely kept Qaitbay's structure mostly intact.[1]
Water access -
Beneath the building is the large underground reservoir.[2] Water used to pour from the shaft near
the door of the fountain into troughs below each window. The troughs were cups chained to a bronze
ring fitted into the two holes of each window.[3] Before the establishment of the British Mandate in
Palestine, most fountains in the Temple Mount were supplied with water from the main channel from
Solomon's Pools at the Chain Gate. During the British Mandate period, the fountain became more
dependent on rainwater and springs. At this time water was collected in the reservoir beneath the
building and then pulled up to the fountain itself.[2]
Read More
Dome of the Chain (Arabic: قبة السلسلة, Qubbat al-Silsila) is a free-standing dome located adjacently east of the Dome of the
Rock in the Old City of Jerusalem. One of the oldest structures on the Haram ash-Sharif (Temple Mount), it is not a mosque or
shrine, but is used as a prayer house.[1] It was built by the Ummayads, became a Christian chapel under the Crusaders,
restored as an Islamic prayer house by the Ayyubids and has been renovated by the Mamluks, Ottomans and the Palestinian-based
waqf.
History --
Some structures within the dome date to pre-Islamic times,[2] but it is widely accepted by both Arab and Western scholars
that the Dome of the Chain was originally built during the Ummayad-era of rule in Palestine, by the caliph Abd al-Malik in
691.[1][3] The Ummayad design of the building has largely remained unaltered by later restorations.[2] In addition to being a
prayer house, the dome was used as a treasury for the local Muslim community.[4]
When the Crusaders invaded the Levant in 1099, they identified the dome as the spot where Saint James was martyred and
transformed the building into a chapel dedicated to him. In 1187, the building was returned to Islamic use after Saladin
recaptured Jerusalem for the Muslims. In 1199 the ceiling and pavings were renewed and marble was added to the columns by the
ruling Ayyubids.[2]
The Crusaders briefly re-used the place from 1240-1244, but they were defeated by the Mamluks. The Mamluk sultan Baibars
renovated it and slightly reduced the number of columns in the 13th century, as well as refacing the mihrab with marble. In
1561, under the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the tiles of the mihrab were glazed and later in 1760, more tiles
were added to it.[2]
The last major renovation was undertaken by the Islamic waqf of Jerusalem in 1975-76.[2]
Religious significance -
The Dome of the Chain owes its name to an ancient legend during King Solomon's rule. According to Mujadir ad-Din,
Among the wonders of the Holy House is the chain, which Solomon, son of David, suspended between Heaven and Earth, to the
east of the Rock, where the Dome of the Chain now stands. The chain had one characteristic. If two men approached it to solve
a point of litigation, only the honest and upright man could take hold of it; the unjust man saw it move out of his reach.[4]
The building in Islamic tradition is the spot where Judgment Day will occur in the "end of days" and where a chain will stop
the sinful and let the just pass through. Notably, the mihrab in the al-Aqsa Mosque is located exactly in the middle of the
qibla wall of the Temple Mount on north-south axis with the Dome of the Chain.[3]
Architecture --
The building consists of a domed hexagonal structure with open arches. The dome, consisting of an inner hexagonal drum, is
made of timber and is supported by six columns, enclosed by a wall-less roof. The roof is situated atop of eleven columns
supported by a polygonal outer arcade. The plan of the structure is a triangular base with two inter-columnar spaces of the
inner drum which correspond to three of the outer polygons on the northeastern and northwestern sides. The qibla wall
contains the mihrab or prayer niche and is flanked by two smaller columns.[2]
There is a total of seventeen columns in the structure, excluding the mihrab, versus the original amount which was twenty.[4]
The Dome of the Chain has a diameter of 14 metres (46 ft), making it the third largest building on the Haram after the al-
Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.[3]
[edit]Dome of the Rock model
According to a number of early Arab historians, the Dome of the Chain (excluding its outer wall) was used as a model for the
Dome of the Rock. Like the latter, the Dome of the Chain has two concentric polygons, with pillars bound together by a wooden
beam and supporting arcades. The Dome of the Rock is three times the size of the Dome of the Chain and the ground plan and
height are proportional.[5]
Read More
The Dome of the Rock (Arabic: مسجد قبة الصخرة, translit.: Masjid Qubbat As-Sakhrah, Hebrew: כיפת הסלע,
translit.: Kipat Hasela) is an Islamic shrine and major landmark located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The
site's significance stems from the religious beliefs regarding the rock, known as the Foundation Stone, at its
heart.
Location, construction and dimensions
The Dome of the Rock is located at the visual center of a platform known as the Temple Mount, which Muslims
refer to as the "Noble Sanctuary(Bait-ul-Muqaddas)". It was constructed on the site of the Second Jewish
Temple,[citation needed] which was destroyed during the Roman Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. In 637 CE, Jerusalem
was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate army during the Muslim conquest of Syria.
The Dome of the Rock was erected between 689 and 691 CE. The names of the two engineers in charge of the
project are given as: Yazid Ibn Salam from Jerusalem and Raja Ibn Haywah from Baysan. Umayyad Caliph Abd al-
Malik ibn Marwan who initiated construction of the Dome, hoped that it would "house the Muslims from cold and
heat"[1] and intended the building to serve as a shrine for pilgrims and not as a mosque for public worship.[2]
Print from 1887. (Architect Frederick Catherwood was the first westerner known to have made detailed drawings
of the Dome, which he accomplished during a six-week period in 1833)[3]
Prof. Shlomo Dov Goitein of the Hebrew University states that the Dome of the Rock was intended to compete with
the many fine buildings of worship of other religions. The very form of a rotunda, given to the Qubbat as-
Sakhra, although it was foreign to Islam,[citation needed] attempted to rival the many Christian domes of its
time.[4] A.C. Cresswell in his book Origin of the plan of the Dome of the Rock notes that those who built the
shrine used the measurements of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The diameter of the dome of the shrine is
20.20m and its height 20.48m, while the diameter of the dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is 20.90m and
its height 21.05m.
The structure is basically octagonal. It comprises a wooden dome, approximately 60 feet (20 m) in diameter,
which is mounted on an elevated drum consisting of a circle of 16 piers and columns.[2] Surrounding this circle
is an octagonal arcade of 24 piers and columns. During his travels in Jerusalem, Mark Twain wrote that:
"Every where about the Mosque of Omar are portions of pillars, curiously wrought altars, and fragments of
elegantly carved marble - precious remains of Solomon's Temple. These have been dug from all depths in the soil
and rubbish of Mount Moriah, and the Moslems have always shown a disposition to preserve them with the utmost
care."[5]
Exterior detail
The outer side walls are made of porcelain [6] and mirror the octagonal design. They each measure approximately
60 feet (18 m) wide and 36 feet (11 m) high. Both the dome and the exterior walls contain many windows.[2]
The Dome --
Exterior
The Dome is in the shape of a Byzantine martyrium, a structure intended for the housing and veneration of
saintly relics, and is an excellent example of middle Byzantine art. During the reign of Suleiman the
Magnificent the exterior of the Dome of the Rock was covered with Iznik tiles. The work took seven years. Haj
Amin Al-Husseini, appointed Grand Mufti by the British, along with Yacoub Al Ghussein implemented restoration
of Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
In 1955 an extensive program of renovation was begun by the government of Jordan, with funds supplied by the
Arab governments and Turkey. The work included replacement of large numbers of tiles dating back to the reign
of Suleiman the Magnificent, which had become dislodged by heavy rain. In 1965, as part of this restoration,
the dome was covered with a durable aluminum and bronze alloy made in Italy, that replaced the lead exterior.
[7] The restoration was completed in August 1964. In 1993 the golden dome covering was refurbished following a
donation of $8.2 million by King Hussein of Jordan who sold one of his houses in London to fund the 80
kilograms of gold required.
Interior
The interior of the dome is lavishly decorated with mosaic, faience and marble, much of which was added several
centuries after its completion. It also contains Qur'anic inscriptions. Sura Ya-Seen is inscribed across the
top of the tile work and was commissioned in the 16th century by Suleiman the Magnificent. Al-Isra is inscribed
above this.
According to Goitein, the inscriptions decorating the interior clearly display a spirit of polemic against
Christianity, whilst stressing at the same time the Qur'anic doctrine that Jesus was a true prophet. The
formula la sharika lahu 'God has no companion' is repeated five times, the verses from Sura Maryam 19:35-37,
which strongly reaffirm Jesus' prophethood to God, are quoted together with the prayer: Allahumma salli ala
rasulika wa'abdika 'Isa bin Maryam - "In the name of the One God (Allah) Pray for your Prophet and Servant
Jesus son of Mary". He believes that this shows that rivalry with Christendom, together with the spirit of
Muslim mission to the Christians, was at work at the time of construction.[4]...
Read More
The Ramban Synagogue (Hebrew: בית כנסת הרמב"ן), is the oldest active synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem.
It was founded by Nahmanides (Rabbi Moshe ben Nahman, whose name is often abbreviated as Ramban) in 1267.[1]
Today it is located at the corner of Ha-Yehudim Street and the square in the Jewish Quarter.
Features -
The foundation of the building comprises vaults resting on Romanesque and Byzantine capitals. Along with the
fact that there are no Gothic or Islamic architectural features, this suggests that the original building
predates the Crusader period.
The synagogue is located three meters below street level, to comply with Muslim restrictions for Dhimmi
houses of prayer not to be higher than mosques.[2]
History -
13th century -
After the Disputation of Barcelona, Nahmanides was exiled from Aragon, and in 1267 he made aliyah to the Land
of Israel. In a letter to his son, he described the Jewish community of Jerusalem devastated by the Crusades:
" Many are its forsaken places, and great is the desecration. The more sacred the place, the greater
the devastation it has suffered. Jerusalem is the most desolate place of all. ... There are ten men who meet
on the Sabbaths they hold services at their home. ... Even in its destruction, it is an exceedingly good
land.[1] "
Seventy two years old, he undertook the effort to rebuild the Jewish community and chose a ruined house on
Mount Zion to reconstruct it as a synagogue. A number of Jews moved to Jerusalem after hearing of Nahmanides'
arrival. The Torah scrolls that were evacuated to Shechem before the Mongol invasion were returned. In three
weeks, for Rosh Hashanah, the synagogue was ready for use.
16th century -
In 1586, the synagogue was closed under the order of the Turkish governor of Jerusalem.[2] Subsequently, the
Sephardi community established their center in the adjacent place, where the academy belonging to the tanna
Yochanan ben Zakai was said to have stood during the Second Temple period. Today the Yochanan ben Zakai
Synagogue stands there.
19th century -
In 1835, the leaders of the community managed to obtain a permission from the Ottoman authorities for the
renovation of the synagogues, which were unified into a single unit.
20th century -
Over the years, the building has been the home to the Sephardi community, was converted into a mosque after
being confiscated by a Mufti, and was used as a flour mill and a cheese factory. Today it is used by the
Ashkenazi community.
After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the building was destroyed by the Arab Legion. As a result of the 1967 Six-
Day War, Jews regained their right to the property, and 700 years after the Ramban revived the ancient
building, the synagogue was reopened.
Read More
The Hurva Synagogue, (Hebrew: בית הכנסת החורבה, translit:
Beit ha-Knesset ha-Hurba, lit. "The Ruin Synagogue"), also
known as Hurvat Rabbi Yehudah he-Hasid ("Ruin of Rabbi Judah
the Pious"), is a historic synagogue located in the Jewish
Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.
The synagogue was founded in the early 18th century by
followers of Judah he-Hasid, but it was destroyed a few
years later in 1721. The plot lay in ruins for over 140
years and became known as the Ruin, or Hurva. In 1864, the
Perushim rebuilt the synagogue, and although officially
named the Beis Yaakov Synagogue, it retained its name as the
Hurva. It became Jerusalem's main Ashkenazic synagogue,
until it too was reduced to rubble by the Arab Legion[5]
during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.[6]
After the site came under Israeli control in 1967, a number
of plans were submitted for the design of a new building.
After years of deliberation and indecision, a commemorative
arch was erected instead at the site in 1977, itself
becoming a prominent landmark of the Jewish Quarter.[3] The
plan to rebuild the synagogue in its 19th century style
received approval by the Israeli Government in 2000 and the
newly rebuilt synagogue was dedicated on March 15, 2010.[7]
The company involved with its reconstruction believes that
restoring the synagogue to its former glory will once again
allow it to serve as a centre for World Jewry.[3]
Early history
The Hurva Synagogue today stands off a plaza in the centre
of Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter. Excavations carried out at
the site in July and August 2003 revealed evidence from four
main settlement periods: First Temple (800–600 BCE), Second
Temple (100 CE), Byzantine and Ottoman.[8] Three bedrock-
hewn mikvahs (ritual baths) were uncovered there dating from
the 1st century.[9] The earliest tradition regarding the
site is of a synagogue existing there at the time of the 2nd
century sage Judah haNasi.[10] By the 13th century, the area
had become a courtyard, known as Der Ashkenaz (the
Ashkenazic Compound),[6] for the Ashkenazic community of
Jerusalem.[11] In 1488, Obadiah ben Abraham described a
large courtyard containing many houses for exclusive use of
the Ashkenazim, adjacent to a "synagogue built on pillars,"
referring to the Ramban Synagogue.[12] The Ramban Synagogue
had been used jointly by both Ashkenazim and Sephardim until
1586, when the Ottoman authorities confiscated the building.
Thereafter, the Ashkenazim established a synagogue within
their own, adjacent courtyard.[6]...
Read More
If you would like to visit some of the places Jesus did when he was alive during your tour to the Holy Land, go to the Western Wall and the Western Wall Tunnel. The last remaining part of the Temple in Jerusalem that Jesus would have known, it was destroyed by the Romans about 2,000 years ago. Many visitors come here to pray following the example of King Solomon who asked God to hear everyone in this sacred place (1 Kings 8:41-43). The Western Wall Tunnel is the location of the rest of the 1,455 ft portion of the wall. There is a model there that shows the Passover pilgrimage that would have been taken by Jesus as a child (Luke 2:46). You can also the site where a beggar was healed by Peter (Acts 3:7) and where Jesus openly confronted money-changers and merchants (John 2:3-6 and Matt. 21:12-13)-stories to keep in mind on your Israel tour.
The tunnels of the Western Wall were created using side-by-side arches to support staircases that lead from the city to the Temple Mount.Tyropaean valley once ran along the western side of the Temple Mount, however, visitors on tours in Israel will notice it has been filled with the refuse from all of the demolition and rebuilding. This valley used to separate the Herodian quarter from the Temple and the arches were built to form a bridge between these two sites. Amazingly enough, these arches and pathways still support the modern streets and go right below the Muslim Quarter. One your pilgrimage to Israel, if you stop at the Western Wall Tunnel, you can see the pavement built by Herod Agrippa (Acts 12:21), the Holies of Holies and the foundation of the Praetorium (Matt. 27:27).
(America Israel Travel)
Read More
If you would like to visit some of the places Jesus did when he was alive during your tour to the Holy Land, go to the Western Wall and the Western Wall Tunnel. The last remaining part of the Temple in Jerusalem that Jesus would have known, it was destroyed by the Romans about 2,000 years ago. Many visitors come here to pray following the example of King Solomon who asked God to hear everyone in this sacred place (1 Kings 8:41-43). The Western Wall Tunnel is the location of the rest of the 1,455 ft portion of the wall. There is a model there that shows the Passover pilgrimage that would have been taken by Jesus as a child (Luke 2:46). You can also the site where a beggar was healed by Peter (Acts 3:7) and where Jesus openly confronted money-changers and merchants (John 2:3-6 and Matt. 21:12-13)-stories to keep in mind on your Israel tour.
The tunnels of the Western Wall were created using side-by-side arches to support staircases that lead from the city to the Temple Mount.Tyropaean valley once ran along the western side of the Temple Mount, however, visitors on tours in Israel will notice it has been filled with the refuse from all of the demolition and rebuilding. This valley used to separate the Herodian quarter from the Temple and the arches were built to form a bridge between these two sites. Amazingly enough, these arches and pathways still support the modern streets and go right below the Muslim Quarter. One your pilgrimage to Israel, if you stop at the Western Wall Tunnel, you can see the pavement built by Herod Agrippa (Acts 12:21), the Holies of Holies and the foundation of the Praetorium (Matt. 27:27).
(America Israel Travel)
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It can be fascinating on tours of Israel to see some of the industrial undertakings of the people alive curing biblical times. Warren’s Shaft is a perfect example of the ingenuity of the time. The underground waterworks that date all the way back to the time of the kings of Judea, Warren’s Shaft may be the Jebusite water system that David utilized to conquer the city. The shaft’s entrance crosses a tunnel that goes down to a vertical shaft that ends at Gihon Spring. There is some question as to when it was built because the technology seems a bit advanced for the people who lived in that area during the time of King David. Warren’s Shaft was truly a wonderful work as it allowed people in the city to draw from Gihon Spring without traveling out of the city, which was very important during times of war. It was rediscovered by Captain Warren, a British officer, in the last century. Consider rediscovering it for yourself today on your pilgrimage to Israel.
2 Samuel 5:6-10
6 And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, "You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off"-thinking, "David cannot come in here." 7 Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. 8 And David said on that day, "Whoever would smite the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack the lame and the blind, who are hated by David’s soul." Therefore it is said, "The blind and the lame shall not come into the house." 9 And David dwelt in the stronghold, and called it the city of David. And David built the city round about from the Millo inward. 10 And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.
(America Israel Travel)
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Some of the most amazing places to visit on Christian Holy Land tours are also the most moving and somber, like Via Dolorosa. Via Dolorosa, or the "way of sorrows" is the road that Jesus took from the place where Pontius Pilate sentenced him all the way to Golgotha. Located in Old Jerusalem, visitors will be able to walk the Via Dolorosa and reflect during their Israel tour about the events leading up to the Crucifixion. The streets are often noisy with vendors and buildings stand tall on either side. Things are pretty much the way they were when Jesus walked this street, which makes the experience all the more meaningful. Jesus walked this street during Passover week, so it would have been far from quiet, though many would have been afraid to look because of the Roman presence around Jesus. This is also where Simon of Cyrene was forced to carry the cross (Mark 15:21). As the last path Jesus walked, many Christians come to the Holy City to see it in person. Many of the sacred landmarks come from sacred stories, which eventually became the Stations of the Cross. A total of 14 stations, the first is where Pilate condemned Jesus and forced him to take up the cross in the Praetorium (Mark 15:15). There is a convent over a part of the large fortress, which has ancient flagstones known as the Gabata (John 19:13) or pavement of stone. Beneath this is a gigantic cistern for water that was built by Herod the Great, which may have been used to drink from by the Roman soldiers that taunted Jesus (Matt. 27:27-31).
The Stations of the Cross are marked about 20 ft below the modern road. The Via Dolorosa was repaved by the ancient stones found by the Jerusalem Municipality some years ago. Beyond the Praetorium is the third station where Jesus fell with the cross (this is known as a recurring event and is marked by 2 other stations as well). The fourth station marks where Simon was forced to take up the cross for Jesus. They stations continue to tell the story of Jesus’ journey to the site where he was crucified-Jesus meets Mary, a woman wipes Jesus’ face, Jesus addresses the women in Jerusalem (Luke 23:27-30), the crucifixion and burial (marked by the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulcher). The Via Dolorosa is truly a site that should be experienced by anyone who takes a trip to Israel.
Luke Chapter 23:26-32
26 And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. 27 And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him. 28 But Jesus turning to them said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!’ 30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ 31 For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?"
32 Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33 And when they came to the place which is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.
(America Israel Travel)
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Though burial sites might not seem like the most exciting stop on most vacations, being able to visit the Tombs of the Prophets on a Holy Land tour is definitely a treat! This ancient underground burial site is located close to the top of the Mount of Olives and is believed by Jews and Christians to be where Haggai and Zachariah were buried. Filled with mystery, the semicircular catacombs are kept by the Russian Orthodox Church. One of the first things Christian Israel tours point out are the 50 rock-cut, empty graves that are spread out and connected by corridors. This burial site was in use by Jerusalemites for about a thousand years, from 500 BCE to 500 CE. Archaeologists wonder what this place was originally used for, prior to being a burial ground, as it has a rock-cut trough with what was once a water pipe. As with so many other things in Jerusalem, there is so much more than what can be seen on the surface!
(America Israel Travel)
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A trip to the Pool of Bethesda can enhance any pilgrimage to Israel. The site where Jesus healed the paralyzed man miraculously and Mary’s mother "Anne" was born as mentioned in the Gospel of John, This area has been extensively excavated, unearthing the five original pools and the remains of the Byzantine, medieval and Crusader churches that have been built over them along with a water run-off collection system that dates all the way back to the 8th century BCE that provided water for the temple. The largest find was the Crusader’s church St. Anne’s. Built on a site next to the Byzantine church that was destroyed by Hakim, the church was turned into an Islamic school in 1192. Ironically, the church went unused for some time, but was never destroyed as it was used as a dump. in 1856 the Ottoman government gave it to France to express their thankfulness for helping during the Crimean war. It is still run by French fathers to this day and makes a wonderful stop on any Israel trip.
John Chapter 5:2-18
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed. 5 One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" 7 The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me." 8 Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your pallet, and walk." 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked.
Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who was cured, "It is the Sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet." 11 But he answered them, "The man who healed me said to me, ‘Take up your pallet, and walk.’" 12 They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your pallet, and walk’?" 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you." 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did this on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working still, and I am working." 18 This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God.
(America Israel Travel)
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Russian Excavations in the Old City. Holy Land tours often stop at some of the most interesting sites such as the Judgment Gate, the Russian Excavations in the Old City. Located near the Church of the Holy Sepulcher lies the Russian Orthodox Church, which holds some of the most amazing archaeological remains in the Old City. The Judgment Gate was unearthed by Archaeologists in the 19th century along with parts of a shrine built by Emperor Hadrian on the site where Queen Helene (mother of Constantine) identified the tomb of Jesus and Calvary at the beginning of the 2nd century. Thankfully, the threshold of the gate along with grooves for locks in the middle have been preserved. A chapel above, dedicated to Emperor Alexander III, sits above the Judgment Gate. This chapel has unusual stained glass windows that draw many visitors on Holy Land tours.
(America Israel Travel)
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If you’re thinking about taking a tour to the Holy Land, you’ll want to visit sites such as the Dome of the Rock. A shrine in the shape of an octagon, it is Islam’s 3rd most holy site. Though amazing in itself, it covers a piece of black stone that is far more precious-the place where Abraham tried to sacrifice Ishmael (not Isaac as Jews and Christians believe), the site of the temple of Solomon and the location where Mohammed rose up to the sky for "The Night Journey". The building was completed in 3 years (688-691) and was built to intentionally snub Christian and Jews. The location had openly borrowed parts of Jewish heritage and the building was made to have a larger dome than the Holy Sepulchre’s. At the time, Syrian Christians were forced to lay tiles for mosaics within that contain verses of the Koran that speak of how misguided Christians are in regards to the Trinity. Having been built firmly on rock, The Dome of the Rock has survived natural disasters so far and has only gone renovations. Those who take a trip to Israel now will be able to see the external tiles that were put on in 1963 and the re-gilded dome that was done from 1993-1994. Genesis Chapter 22:1-14
1 After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." 2 He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; and he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the ass; I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you." 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father!" And he said, "Here am I, my son." He said, "Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" 8 Abraham said, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they went both of them together.
9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 Then Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." 12 He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place The Lord will provide; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided."
(America Israel Travel)
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If you enjoy taking in the details of a church and its history, make sure you stop at Ecco Homo on your tour to the Holy Land. Built to the east of Hadrian’s city of Aelia Capitolina, the church reflects Roman tastes in architecture-featuring an archway with a large middle arch for wheeled traffic and one smaller arch on each side for those on foot. Surprisingly, half of it still stands today. The large middle arch still spans the street, and the pedestrian arch to the north is located within the church as a part of the chancel screen. The church received its name because it has been said that Pilate gave his speech to the crows during Jesus’ trial there, though this was discovered to be untrue as the site only dates back to 135 AD, which is 100 years after Jesus’ death. The name, however, reflects the first words in Pilates speech in which he began with, "Behold the man . . ."
John Chapter 19:1-22
1 Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him. 2 And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and arrayed him in a purple robe; 3 they came up to him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again, and said to them, "See, I am bringing him out to you, that you may know that I find no crime in him." 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, "Behold the man!" 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, "Crucify him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no crime in him." 7 The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he has made himself the Son of God." 8 When Pilate heard these words, he was the more afraid; 9 he entered the praetorium again and said to Jesus, "Where are you from?" But Jesus gave no answer. 10 Pilate therefore said to him, "You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?" 11 Jesus answered him, "You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore he who delivered me to you has the greater sin."
12 Upon this Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, "If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend; everyone who makes himself a king sets himself against Caesar." 13 When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, and in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, "Behold your King!" 15 They cried out, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." 16 Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
17 So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote a title and put it on the cross; it read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." 20 Many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews then said to Pilate, "Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’" 22 Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."
(America Israel Travel)
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If you’d like to see a site that has meaning to multiple religions, look at Holy Land Israel tours that stop at the Golden Gate. Located on the eastern side of the Temple Mount, the Golden Gate was an entrance for the priests traveling up the Mount to pray. The three most prominent monotheistic religions possess traditions that speak of their messiahs passing through the Golden Gate on the Day of Judgement as they ascend the Temple Mount. This is a wonderful site to visit on your Israel trip. (America Israel Travel)
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If you’d like to see a site that has meaning to multiple religions, look at Holy Land Israel tours that stop at the Golden Gate. Located on the eastern side of the Temple Mount, the Golden Gate was an entrance for the priests traveling up the Mount to pray. The three most prominent monotheistic religions possess traditions that speak of their messiahs passing through the Golden Gate on the Day of Judgement as they ascend the Temple Mount. This is a wonderful site to visit on your Israel trip. (America Israel Travel)
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If you’re looking for a location during your tour to the Holy Land that will give you a unique vantage point, consider the Hill of Evil Counsel. A southern hilltop in Jerusalem, the scenes available from the shady walkways and grand outlooks are inspiring and spiritual. The name has something of a harsh sound to it as it was named in remembrance of the place where Caiphas, the High Priest, and his associates determined to arrest Jesus (John 11:47-50). From this location you can see the most popular Christian sites frequented by those on Israel Holy Land tours-Mount Moriah, Mount Zion in the west over Hinnom Valley (Josh. 15:8 and Jer. 7:32), Kidron Valley (2 Sam 15:23 and John 18:1), the Garden of Gethsemane, the Tower of the Ascension (Acts 1:11) and the Mount of Olives (Zech 14:2). The Hill of Evil Counsel also overlooks one of the most popular destinations on Holy Land tours-the City of David.
(America Israel Travel)
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If you would like to see some of the amazing historic remains on your trip to Israel, stop at David’s Tower. Despite its name, David’s Tower was not built by King David. It was actually built by Herod the Great on a Hasmonaean foundation in his attempts to secure Jerusalem’s northern wall, which was always considered the weakest in regard to defense. The three towers built were named after Herod the Great’s 3 favorite people-Miriam (his wife), Phasael (his brother) and Hippicus (his friend). Only the base of the tower of Phasael remains after all of this time, though the fortress was only destroyed in part because of its enormous size by the Romans during the first Jewish Revolt (66-70 AD). It also survived the Islamic, Crusader and Turkish periods up through WWI. Rich with history, it’s no wonder David’s Tower is such a popular stop on tours to the Holy Land. (America Israel Travel)
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