Israel. Jerusalem
The main city on our journey to Israel was Jerusalem... We spent almost two days here, visiting the main historical sites, notably the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Western Wall, and the Muslim sanctuary, the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount...
Returning from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, we immediately headed to its old part, entering through the Damascus Gate...
The streets of the old city are covered with stalls, and turned into practically one continuous market where you can find everything...
Our hostel was located only two hundred meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the entrance to the hostel was amidst the stalls...
Probably the main street in Jerusalem is the Via Dolorosa, which marks the path Jesus Christ took to the place of crucifixion. Nine of the fourteen stations of Christ's Way of the Cross are located on the Via Dolorosa. The last five stations are located within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The first station is where Jesus was interrogated by Pontius Pilate and sentenced to execution...
Next to the second station is a small church built on the site where Jesus Christ was flogged by Roman soldiers...
The second station is the place where Pilate presented Jesus to the high priests, saying "Behold the man"...
The third and fourth stations mark the site of Jesus' first fall and his meeting with the Virgin Mary...
The fifth station is where Simon of Cyrene was given the task of carrying the cross...
At the sixth station, Saint Veronica wiped Jesus' face with her silk veil...
The eighth station is where Jesus met the pious women...
The ninth station marks Jesus' third fall...
The next five stations are located within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre...
In these places occurred the division of Jesus Christ's clothing, the Crucifixion, the removal from the Cross, the anointing of the body with spices, the laying in the Tomb, and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ... Right before the entrance is the place where the body was anointed with spices...
At this place, most pilgrims sanctify their own relics...
Behind it is a very beautiful mosaic depicting historical events...
To the right of the anointing place, on the second floor, is Golgotha - the hill where Jesus was crucified... The view from the balcony next to Golgotha...
The site of Jesus' crucifixion, here you can touch the sacred stone of the ancient hill - Golgotha, through an opening...
Descending from Golgotha, we proceeded to the Holy Sepulchre, lighting a candle for our deceased loved ones...
On Easter, the ceremony of bringing out lit candles from the Holy Sepulchre takes place here... The bringing out of the Holy Fire symbolizes the emergence from the Tomb of the true Light, that is, the Resurrection of the Lord...
The tomb is the main altar of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Jerusalem...
ВHaving visited the main sites, we continued our journey through the holy places of the Church...
A few interesting facts... The Church is cared for by representatives of three churches - Armenian, Greek, and Catholic. On some walls, you can see engraved crosses... Researchers believe all the crosses were made by the hands of two or three masters in the 15th century and it is believed that pilgrims paid them, and they carved a cross on the wall in honor of the payer and their family members...
Having finished exploring the Church, we went to the Mount of Olives - mentioned many times in the Bible and the Gospels... From here, there is a view of the old city and one of the oldest and most revered Jewish cemeteries...
A view of the Muslim sanctuary the Dome of the Rock, where once stood the First and Second Temples of Jerusalem...
The cemetery on the slopes of the mountain contains about 150,000 graves of many Jewish educators, philosophers, and religious figures, soldiers who died in the War of Independence (1948-49), and some graves are attributed to Old Testament figures...
On the slopes of the Mount of Olives, the Church of All Nations stands out, built on the rock where, according to legend, Jesus Christ prayed about the cup on the last night before his arrest. This place is also special because of the description of the Passion of the Lord by the evangelist Luke...
Jerusalem is enveloped in an incredible number of stories and legends, and practically all the places in the old city are holy for pilgrims from all over the world. But the Western Wall is exclusively a Jewish shrine which embodies Israel and the Jewish people...
The Western Wall or Wailing Wall, are the remains of the wall of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Most of the wall is hidden in the Wailing Wall tunnel. The Temple was the holiest building for Judaism. The First (Solomon's) Temple was built in the 10th century BC. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC... The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD as a result of the Great Jewish Revolt. The Second Temple existed for 420 years.
The Western Wall is the remnant of the western part of the outer wall of the Second Temple, which appeared from the rebuilding of this shrine by Herod the Great... In Hebrew, the wall is called the Kotel (wall) or, less commonly, the Kotel Maaravi - the Western Wall. It has the same name in most languages. But also it calls the "Wailing Wall" which is a translation of one of the poetic names of the wall in Arabic حائط المبكى - "wall of tears," which made its way into Russian, and from there, into Ukrainian. This definition comes from the Jewish custom of coming to this place to groan and mourn the destruction of the Temple. The passage to the wall itself is divided by a partition, separating men and women...
Before entering the territory of the Western Wall, you need to pass a checkpoint with luggage scanning...
To the left of the wall is a tunnel where most of the remains of the Temple wall are hidden... Here, the most devout Jews pray...
Approaching the wall, you need to wear a kippah - the headgear of a pious Jew, symbolizing modesty, humility, and reverence before the Almighty. The kippah is a small, round (knitted or sewn from fabric) cap that covers the crown...
Evening in Jerusalem...
The entrance to the Temple Mount and the Muslim sanctuary with the golden dome called the Dome of the Rock is quite restricted...
Access is possible through eleven gates from the north and east sides, all gates are guarded by Israeli police and Waqf (the Muslim organization that controls the Temple Mount) employees, as access to the Temple Mount through 10 gates is allowed only for Muslims. Representatives of other faiths can enter only through the Moroccan Gate and only during the times between prayer from Saturday to Thursday. The entrance to the Moroccan Gate goes through a wooden bridge from the side of the Western Wall and is open only in the first half of the day. Before entering, tourists' belongings are scanned...
The Temple Mount is the holiest place for Jews: religious Jews worldwide face Israel during prayers, Jews in Israel face Jerusalem, and Jews in Jerusalem face the Temple Mount. According to Jewish tradition, this is where the creation of the first man - Adam, took place, Abraham was going to sacrifice his son, King Solomon built the legendary First Temple, which stood for 410 years, and 70 years after the destruction of the First Temple, the Second Temple was built here, which stood for 420 years... According to the promises of Jewish prophets, after the coming of the Messiah, the last, Third Temple will be rebuilt on the Temple Mount, which will become the spiritual center for the Jewish people and all humanity. Therefore, the Temple Mount is worth the effort to visit...
The Dome of the Rock was built in 691-692 on the top of the mountain sacred to three religions - Muslims, Jews, and Christians...
Inside the temple, there is a protruding rock from which, according to legend, the Prophet Muhammad made the miraj (ascension in a dream to the throne of Allah)... It is because of this rocky outcrop that the temple got its name. Non-Muslims are not allowed inside the temple...
For many centuries, Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem visited the Temple Mount and were able to see the Dome of the Rock. But violence from Muslims, particularly the order of Caliph Al-Hakim to destroy the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, led to religious confrontation and the beginning of the Crusades...
In 1099, during the First Crusade, the Crusaders captured Jerusalem and destroyed most of its Muslim and Jewish population. The invaders turned the Dome of the Rock into a church, entrusting its care to the Augustinian monastic Order... Around 1119, the Dome of the Rock was handed over to the monastic-knightly Order of the Templars. The name of the order itself comes from the Dome of the Rock, which they simply called the Temple (Latin: Templum), which also became one of the symbols of the Templars and appeared on the seals of the Grand Masters of the Order. It became an architectural model for a number of round Templar churches-rotundas in Europe...
An interesting fact about the administration of the Temple Mount is that it is managed by the "supervisor" of the Waqf. The word "Waqf" in Arabic translates to the dedication of real estate for religious or charitable purposes. The Temple Mount was first designated as a Waqf by Muslims shortly after 1187, when Salah ad-Din, having captured Jerusalem, expelled the Crusaders. From that moment, a special official known as the "supervisor" appeared in the city. Initially, his task was to control the budget of all the dedicated property, i.e., the Waqf, and to take care of the well-being of Islamic clergy.
In 1948, after the War of Independence, the Old City was captured by Jordanian troops, and the patron of the Jerusalem Waqf became King Abdullah I of Jordan. Nineteen years later, during the Six-Day War, the eastern quarters of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, were liberated by the Israeli army, but Defense Minister Moshe Dayan did not strip the Waqf of its powers and left the administration of the Temple Mount in the hands of the "supervisor". Thus, a paradoxical political and legal situation arose in which Jordan is involved in the management of the center of Jerusalem.
The area around the Muslim shrine is also very photogenic...
This concluded our visit to the holy city. Our civilization is built on stories and legends that shape our goals and values. And Jerusalem is the city where probably the most powerful of them originated - stories that have influenced the worldview of billions of people for centuries...
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