Next Brian went to Jerusalem. He first went to the Mount of Olives just outside the walls of Jerusalem. Jesus waited at the bottom of the hill the night of his betrayal by Judas. In the foreground of the picture, you can see the thousands of Jewish graves. Jews have been buried at the Mount of Olives since Biblical times and some are still buried there today. Also in the background, you can see the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock.
A close up of the Dome of the Rock. The Temple Mount is the holiest sight in all of Judaism and a holy site for Muslims and Christians. Some of the history of this site is as follows: This is where God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Issac. Later King David selected this site for a temple completed by his son Solomon as the First Temple in 960 B.C. Later in 586 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar II, King of the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and exiled the Israelites giving us the Babylonian Exile. Work began in 535 B.C. on a second temple. Around 19 B.C. King Herod (same one that built Masada) tore down the temple and rebuilt a larger one. This Second Temple stood until 70 A.D. when it was destroyed by the Romans under Titus during the Jewish Revolt (again, refer to Masada story). Later Helena built a church on the Temple Mount during her trip to find the true relics. In Muslim tradition, this is where Muhammad ascended to Heaven.
Later in 691 Caliph Omar, a Muslim, order construction of what became the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque, the gold dome you see in the picture. During the Crusades, after the Christians took control of Jerusalem, King Baldwin I of Jerusalem made his palace in the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Knights Templar set up shop in the Dome of the Rock (and then several authors wrote books based on what the Templars may have found there). Eventually, the Temple Mount came back under Muslim control and Jews have only been able to visit the area after the Six-Days war.
This is the Western Wall or Wailing Wall, the holiest site for Jews. This wall is part of the last remains of the Second Temple that King Herod built. Currently, a Muslim council known as the Muslim Waqf manages the area of the Temple Mount.
Our next stop was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This site is venerated by Christians as the location of Golgotha or Calvary Hill where Jesus was crucified as well as the tomb he was buried in. Several Christian groups "control" the church to include the Eastern Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Roman Catholic, and the Greek Orthodox have primary control. In 1192 Saladin, the Muslim who conquered the Holy Land back from the Crusaders, assigned control of the door to two Muslim families, one who keeps the key and one who keeps the door. So even today, twice a day a member of the Joudeh family brings the key and a member of the Nusseibeh family locks and unlocks the door.
Another strange part of the co-custodians of the church is this ladder that you can see. With so many different groups vying for control in the church, there is constant gridlock and not much gets done. This ladder has not moved for more than 116 years. There is a picture from 1892 showing the same ladder in the same location.
Like I mentioned before, inside the church is the supposed locations of Jesus' crucifixion and burial. The Anointing Stone where Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus' body from the cross and prepared it for burial is the first thing you see inside the door. Brian visited the area that was built where the tomb of Jesus was and this picture is of the rock where the cross stood. Pilgrims wait in line to duck under the alter to see the stone.
So that was a quick tour of the places Brian visited and some historical context to the diverse history of the Holy Land. After having lived in Germany recently and marveling at churches or buildings built 500 or 600 years ago, to see places that date from 2000-3000 years ago was quite an experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment