04-05-2011
Jerusalem, one of the holiest places in the world, is a city located in Israel. Human settlements were found here in Bronze Age—somewhere around 3500 B.C. Evidence found that three largest religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity here and both Israel and Palestine have claimed Jerusalem as a capital city, therefore bloody conflicts to control the city went on for thousands of years. In around 1000 BC, King David and the Israelites arrived, and his son Solomon constructed the first temple in 950 BC. The Babylonians captured Jerusalem in 587 BC and destroyed the Temple, and sent the Jews into exile. About 50 years after that, the Persian King Cyrus allowed Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. In 520 BC, the Second Temple was built. In 332 BC, Jerusalem came under Greek rule and was increasingly Hellenized. Over the next several hundred years, the city was conquered and ruled by different groups, including the Romans, Persians, Arabs, Fatimid’s, Seljuk Turks, Crusaders, Egyptians Mamelukes and Islamists. By the year 63 BC, Jerusalem was under Roman control, and in 37 BC, Herod became king of the Jews. He restructured the city and temples and added walls.
Jesus was crucified in the city of Jerusalem around 30 A. D. probably because Roman Authorities found him as a political threat.
In AD 70 Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus, and then again by Emperor Hadrian, in AD 132, who banned Jews from the city and renamed Jerusalem. Jerusalem became a Christian city in 326, when the Emperor Constantine and his mother Helena built a number of churches. This era came to an end when Jerusalem was captured by the Persians in 614. It was recovered by the Byzantines in 627, but In 632 A.D., Muhammad the Islamic prophet, died and was said to have ascended to heaven from Jerusalem. In 638 Jerusalem was conquered by the armies of Islam. Thereafter, the Umayyad Caliphs built the Dome of the Rock and the El-Aqsa Mosque. Further in 1099 the Crusaders conquest of the city resulted in Christian rule again and many churches, palaces and houses were built. Islam returned to Jerusalem, however, when Saladin captured the city in 1187, and it remained in Muslim hands (1291- 1517) and the Ottomans (1519-1917), who built the present town walls. After WW I, Great Britain took over Jerusalem, which was part of Palestine at the time. The British controlled the city and surrounding region until Israel became an independent state in 1948. In 1950, the Israelis made West Jerusalem capital of their state, and after the Six Day War of 1967 they annexed East Jerusalem. There was further trouble in 1980, when the Israelis declared Jerusalem, including the Arab Old City, to be the “eternal capital of Israel”.
Temple Mount (Haram Al-Sharif) visit: 04/05/2011
I had arrangement for the Classic Tour of Israel with Diesenhaus Unitors, Tel Aviv. We were a small group of 5 to 6 from different countries. Today’s visit was fixed for Old city in Jerusalem. First visit was Tomb of King David and the Room of the Last Supper on Mount Zion. Enter the walled city, and walk through the newly restored Jewish Quarter. Then the Roman Cardo, Herodian Quarter and continue to the Western Wall. Walk along the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, proceed to Mount Scopus and then to the Mount of Olives for a magnificent panoramic view of the Old city. Continue to Bethlehem, visit the Church of Nativity. Enter the church that marks the site of Christ’s birthplace means having to stoop low. The only doorway in the fortress-like front wall is just 1.2 metres high.
The previous entrance to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was lowered around the year 1500 to stop looters from driving their carts in. To Christians, it seems appropriate to bow low before entering the place where God humbled himself to become man.
Follow in the footsteps of centuries of pilgrims, and enter one of the holiest sanctuaries on earth. Lauded by Jews, Christians, and Muslims, this is the site where Abraham (father of all three monotheistic faiths) is said to have offered his son up as a sacrifice to God, where Solomon built the First Temple for the Ark of the Covenant, and where the Prophet Muhammad is said to have ascended to heaven during his early years of preaching Islam. It’s a place of deep significance (and contention over ownership) for those of faith. The wide plaza, above the Old City, is centered around the glittering Dome of the Rock, which is Jerusalem’s most iconic landmark. Beneath the golden dome is the sacred stone both Jews and Muslims believe to be where Abraham offered his son to God and where Muslims also believe the Prophet Muhammad began his journey to heaven. The southern side of the mount is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, said to be one of the oldest mosques in the world.
Jewish Quarter
Western Wall is the surviving retaining wall of Jerusalem’s First Temple. Commonly called the Wailing Wall due to the people’s laments for the loss of the temple in AD 70, it is now the holiest site in Judaism and has been a place of pilgrimage for the Jewish people since the Ottoman era. The Jewish Quarter of the Old City runs roughly from the Zion Gate east to the Western Wall Plaza. This part of the Old City was destroyed during the Israeli-Arab fighting in 1948 and has been extensively rebuilt since 1967. Archaeologists have unearthed fascinating remnants of old Jerusalem.
Church of the Holy Sepulcher
For Christian pilgrims, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is Jerusalem’s holiest site and is said to have been built on the site where Jesus was crucified. The site for the church was picked by Empress Helena – mother to Constantine the Great during her tour of the Holy Land. She was the one to announce to the Byzantine world that this spot was the Calvary (or Golgotha) of the gospels. The original church (built in AD 335) was destroyed by 1009, and the grand church now dates from the 11th century.
Mount of Olives
Congested with churches and oldest continually used cemetery in the world, the Mount of Olives holds religious pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and one can see the spectacular panoramic view of the Old city from here. This sacred hill is believed to be the place where God will begin rising the dead on Judgment Day. For Christian believers, this is also where Jesus ascended to heaven after his crucifixion and subsequent resurrection.
