Jerusalem

Temple mountain:

The Temple Mount or Mount Moriah is of great importance to each of the three Abrahamic religions (Juddism, Christianity and Islam). The top is flattened and forms a square with an area of approximately 15 hectares. In the middle of this temple square is the Dome of the Rock, and on the south side the Al-Aqsa mosque. 

It is thought that the hill was inhabited from the year 4000 BC. King David conquered it in the year 1000 BC. and built here the first temple, which would be destroyed in 586. Herod the Great, the vassal king of the Romans extended the hill and made the platform what you see right now. But during the first Jewish war, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and its second temple.

A Roman army division was created, while the Byzantines used it as a rubbish mountain centuries later. After the Muslims conquered Jerusalem, they removed the already set up Jewish structures and built the Al Aqsa mosque and the rock dome. After the successful course of the 1st Crusade and the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, the Dome of the Rock was dedicated to a Christian church. King Baudouin II of Jerusalem ordered a palace to be built on the Temple Mount and partly made it available to the Order of Knights Templar, who settled there.

They converted the Al-Aqsa Mosque to their residence, and called it the Salomon Temple. After Muslim leader Saladin reconquered Jerusalem in 1187, he removed every trace from the presence of the Templars again. After the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, the Old City with the Temple Mount came into the hands of Jordan and Jews were denied entry. During the Six Day War in 1967, Israel captured the Old City with the Temple Mount, on Jordan. Israel recognized in 1988 the power of King Hussein of Jordan to maintain the supervision of the shrines on the Temple Mount. Access to the mountain is currently limited, both for Muslims and Jews.

Dome of the rock:

The Dome of the Rock is an Islamic memorial in the middle of the Temple Mount built between 688 and 692. It is built over the top of the mountain Moriah where according to the Bible Abraham had to sacrifice his son. Also here would be the rock that is the foundation of the present world.

From exactly the same place, the Prophet Muhammad began his nightly journey to heaven (a footprint would still be visible). According to some, this was the current place where the rocky dome stands and the rock plate in the rock dome is the place where the ark of the covenant stood in the second temple.

Because entering this Holy of Holies in Judaism is absolutely forbidden, the entire Temple Mount is forbidden for pious Jews. Until the middle of the 20th century, the Dome of the Rock was only accessible to Muslims, but since 1967 non-Muslims have restricted access. The Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of the first and most sacred mosques of Islam, is located next to the dome.

Al Aqsa Mosque:

The Aksa (litterally: the furthest house) mosque is built on the south side of the Temple Mount and is the largest mosque in the city with room for about 5,000 people. Once there would have been a market here where Jesus, among other things, turned the tables of the moneychangers and drove them away.

He is only accessible to Muslims. The current stone building dates from 660 AD but was thoroughly rebuilt in Byzantine times. During the first crusade, a massacre was wrought here by the Crusaders; thousands of people would be beheaded.

They would use the mosque as a palace where parts were taken as a stable and by the Knights Templar. Saladin would set it up again as a mosque. Strangely enough, Mussolini would donate a pillar. In 1951, in an attack, Jordanian King Abdullah I was killed by the Palestinian Mustafa Ashu when leaving the mosque.

Wailing wall and the tunnels:

West of the Dome is the Wailing Wall, one of the huge Roman retaining walls on which the temple plateau around the Rock in the time of Herod was built and still rest. From Ottoman times, the Wailing Wall became the most important Jewish shrine in the world, because Jews did not want to come on the plateau of the Temple Mount.

For 19 years, the wall was closed by Jordanian soldiers for Jews, but during the 6-day war Israeli soldiers captured the Old City and bulldozered the Arab quarter away that was built here. From the square on the West wall, the wooden Mughrabi bridge goes up, from where one has access to the temple square via the Mughrabi gate.

For non-Muslims this is the only way to reach the Temple Mount. There is a men's and women's section and many people stop wishing notes in the wall. You may receive a paper keppel. From here you can make a tour in the 488 meter long tunnel under the mountain. This would lead to the Al Aqsa mosque and was once a market street.

The old (historic) city

The old city, where the Temple Mount and the Via Dolorosa are part of, is undivided in four districts: the Muslim, Christian, Armenian and Jewish Quarters. The whole is encircled by a wall. The city wall, built in Ottoman times, on Suleyman the Great’s behalf has got eight city gates, one of which is closed (the golden gate).

Where at the Herod gate the Crusaders broke through in 1099, the Israeli paratroopers chose the Lion Gate in 1967 to enter the old city. You can also take a walk on the city walls even though a section has been deposited. The Phasaël Tower, together with the Hippicus and Mariamne towers, was part of the defenses that Herod the Great built in Jerusalem.

The towers were located close together at the main gateway to the city, at the present-day Jaffa gate. The towers were connected to the Palace of Herod and were inspired by the lighthouse in Alexandria (in Egypt). At the conquest of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD, only the Phasaël tower was spared. In the course of the Middle Ages the tower was renamed Davids-tower and became part of the Crusader Castle. On the steps to the citadel, the declaration of the city was acknowledged by the British general Allenby on 9 December 1917. In this way, 400 years of Ottoman rule came to an end.

Mountain Zion

The mountain Zion lies south of the present old city and according to the Tanakh Jerusalem would have been founded here. David and Solomon would have built a temple on this specific spot. Here is also the supposed tomb of King David.

When you take the stairs you reach the building where the room is located of the last supper, the fourth most sacred place of Christianity. The church was destroyed numerous times and the current one was built by the Crusaders. Not far from here lies the beautiful church monastery of Dormition where the Holy virgin Mary would have ended up in an eternal sleep.

Despite the considerable damage the current church has suffered during the wars in 1948 and 1967 when the Israeli army used the tower for observation, it remains one of the symbols of the city. Just to the east is the church where Peter denied to know Jesus three times (the cock crowed three times).

Olive mountain

The olive mountain is located directly to the east of the "old town" and owes its name to the many olive trees that grow here. At the foot of the mountain lies Gethsemane (court of olives), the place where Jesus was delivered to the Romans.

Here stands the church of all nations that was only built in the 20th century. In the church in front of the altar there is a rock that is designated as the place where Jesus prayed in the Court of Olives the night he was arrested. Next to the church is one of the holiest places of Christianity; the alleged tomb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

In the Bible people speak of the place where God will begin to awaken the deceased. Not surprisingly, the place is a popular cemetery for Jews. There would be about 150,000 graves at the moment. But the olive mountain is best known for the place where Jesus would have ascended to heaven. According to the gospels, Jesus used the Mount of Olives as a resting place and as a place to teach his disciples.

On top of the mountain, the place that is also called the "summit", Jesus would have ascended to heaven. Not surprisingly, there are countless memorials, churches and a mosque throughout the entire olive mountain. From the cemetery and the top you have a beautiful panorama over the old city.

Other attractions:

• Yad Vashem (see museum).

The beginning:

The first signs of life in - what we now call Jerusalem - come from Egyptian writings around the year 2000 BC. It would be inhabited by a pre-Israeli tribe Jebusiten. In the year 997 BC it was conquered by the Israelites under the leadership of King David who took the "Ark of the Covenant" and made Jerusalem its capital. Son Solomon expanded the city while building the first temple in 950 BC began.

After the death of this king, Jerusalem became the capital of the Kingdom of Judah which was divided among 12 tribes. After the empire was taken over into the New Assyrian empire in 722, the Babylonians would conquer it in the year 586. The capital including the temple was destroyed, the people were taken away. They were sent back under the King of Persia, Cyrus. In 520 the second temple was built and the city walls restored. About 330 BC the Persian Empire was conquered by the Macedonian-Greek king Alexander III the Great.

This began the period of Hellenism for Jerusalem. In 312 BC the Egyptian-Greek king Ptolemy I took Jerusalem. In the year 63 BC the city was conquered by the Romans under General Pompey. About 25 years later, he installed Herod the Great as a vassal king of the Kingdom of Judea. It was towards the end of the reign of Herod the Great that Jesus of Nazareth was born. When Herod died, the Romans installed the administrator Pontius Pilate known from the crucifixion of Christ in the year 30 AD.

In the year 66 after Chr. began the First Jewish Revolt. The Romans destroyed the city and the temple was set on fire. The only remnant of the temple was part of the Western Wall, now known as the Wailing Wall. A Roman army camp was established on the ruins of the city. Many Jews fled the country and the diaspora took its start. Emperor Hadrian visited the city in the year 130 and decided to establish a Roman colony. A Roman temple (in worship of Jupiter) was built on the Temple Mount. The Jews were denied access to the city to prevent new national feelings.

Israel independent:

During WWI, in December 1917, British troops conquered Jerusalem on the Turks. Until September 1922, Jerusalem and the rest of Palestine remained under British military rule. During the war of independence between the Arabs and Jews in 1948 (when the Jews proclaimed the independent state of Israel), the Jews conquered Jerusalem. Leading Palestinian notables asked if East Jerusalem could be protected by Jordanian soldiers.

During the 6-day War of June 1967, Israel conquered this East Jerusalem on Jordan and annexed the Old City and an area around it. Many synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians. Meanwhile, the Arab neighborhoods were neglected and forbidden to expand In 1987, the First Intifada broke out in the West Bank, which lasted until 1993 when the Oslo Accords were signed. In September 2000 the Second Intifada broke out after a visit by the then Israeli opposition leader Ariël Sharon to the Temple Mount. Then the city was startled by many attacks, including on buses and restaurants.

In East Jerusalem, life became increasingly difficult in many ways. In 2004, Israel began to expand the barrier that closed and cut off Arab villages from Palestinian territory. Whereas "secular" Jews want to leave Jerusalem because of the tensions, the number of Orthodox Jews is increasing. In several parts of the city, large-scale new construction projects are under development, mostly focused on the rapidly growing charitable sector. The ring of Israeli settlements around Jerusalem is being systematically extended, despite international protests.