Most surprising to me was the proximity of the various Christian Holy Sites. The Mount of Olives lies only a few hundred meters from the Eastern Gate of the city which is now blocked off. After Jesus was marched through this gate, he was taken to Caiphus, the high priest, just inside the gate. Caiphus sent this band of miscreants to Pontius Pilot located in the current-day citadel a few hundred meters away and back toward the Eastern Gate. After being tried and flogged in the courtyard of Pilate's home, Jesus was marched along the Via Dolorosa for at most 800 meters. He was crucified and buried only 50 meters away.
O Little Town of Bethlehem...within the Western Bank! While the the view of Bethlehem from the outskirts of Jerusalem didn't exactly conjure up visions of the baby Jesus in his manger, it was still moving to think this town featured so prominently in the Christian religion 2,000 years ago. As an official guest of the State of Israel, this was all the closer I could get to the West Bank. Note the partial wall separating the State of Israel from the Palestinian Occupied Territory of the West Bank.
Within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre lies the Rock of Calvary where Jesus was crucified on the cross, the Stone of Anointment where his body was prepared for burial, and the tomb (sepulchre) where he was buried. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was commissioned by Helena, Mother of Emperor Constantine, shortly after the split of the Roman Empire around 300 AD. The hill in which the supposed tomb of Jesus resided was dug out to make way for the church. The Rock of Calvary and the location of Christ's tomb were thereafter contained within the church. The Rock of Calvary was only 50 meters away from the tomb. From my Sunday School days, I had always envisioned the historic Christian sites within Jerusalem as further separated than what they actually are. Today, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is maintained through a rather tumultuous agreement between six denominations: the Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, and Ethiopian Orthodox. Because of their inability to get along, keys to the church have been maintained by a Muslim Family for over 10 generations. They still open the church every morning at 04.30.
The Stone of Anointment is revered by many Christians as the site where Jesus' body was anointed prior to burial in the tomb of Joseph of Arimethea.
The Hill of Calvary (Rock of Golgotha) is located under a protective glass casing within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Incredibly, archeologists are in general agreement that this was the likely site of Jesus' crucifixion. A popular tale surrounding the crucifixion was that the skull of Adam was found under the Rock of Golgotha. Golgotha literally means "skull" in Aramaic.
The Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall, is the most sacred of Jewish Holy Sites. It is the remnants of the retaining wall built to support the Temple Mount constructed by Herod the Great around 20 BC. The temple was destroyed by the Romans around 70 AD at which time Jews were evicted from the city. For hundreds of years afterward, Jews were only allowed to travel to the Western Wall during Jewish Religious Days. The Romans who watched the Jews worship at the wall with "fits of tears and wailing," dubbed it the Wailing Wall. Jews, like the young Jewish boy in the picture, still come to the wall daily to pray and meditate. Many worshipers leave prayers written on small pieces of paper stuffed into the cracks in the wall.
In the 7th Century Muslims captured Jerusalem and constructed the Dome of the Rock over the spot purported to be the rock on which Abraham meant to sacrifice his son Isaac according to the Jews & Christians and Ismael according to the Muslims. Later it was also claimed to be the launching point of the Prophet Muhammad during his night trip to heaven. The wooden staircase was a recent addition after a minor earthquake destroyed the original ramp allowing Muslims access to the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Muslims, who find the ramp less adequate than the original ramp, refuse to use it. It was a bit unsightly.
The room below is by all likelihood the room where Jesus partook of his last Passover meal prior to his crucifixion. While the ceiling is not the original, the floor is. Unlike the scene made so famous by Leonardo da Vinci, Jesus and his disciples most likely sat on the floor to enjoy their meal without an orderly seating arrangement around a table.
The Mount of Olives is located just east of Old Jerusalem. The Church of All Nations, so called due to the combined contributions of over a dozen nations to build the church, sits at the base of the Mount of Olives only a few hundred meters outside the Eastern Gate (aka the Golden Gate where Jesus is prophesied to one day reenter Jerusalem). Inside the Walls of the Church is said to be the Garden of Gethsemane (Assyrian for "oil press") where Jesus wept alone as his disciples slept. In the bottom right picture, Jesus is betrayed by Judas with a kiss as Roman soldiers move to arrest him. The olive tree pictured below is the oldest tree in the garden at just over 800 years old.
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