Mount of Olives, Jerusalem, ISRAEL

Elevation : 826 m
The Mount has been used as a Jewish cemetery for over 3,000 years and holds approximately 150,000 graves, making it central in the tradition of Jewish cemeteries.

Way up to the peak

The common custom to leave little stones or pebbles on Jewish head stones goes back to the ancient Jewish funeral practice, when the corps was lay to rest in burial caves. The particular section of the burial cave then in the majority of the cases was locked with a round roll able stone (the golèl). In return to avoid the rolling away of the round golel, the stone was fixed with a smaller stone, called the dofèk (to knock) a word in modern Hebrew also means the pulse. To leave the stone today at a visit means to knock on the grave.

*text source : https://jhva.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/warum-legt-man-kleine-steine-auf-judische-grabsteine/

Old City, view from Mt. of Olives

Two Domes, Dome of Church of the Holy Sepulcher(grey) and Dome of the rock(golden)

Kidron and Hinnom Valley

City of David

Hinnom Valley

Tomb of the Virgin Mary

First Establishment : 5th century
Facade : 12th century
A small upper church on an octagonal footing was built in the 5th century but it was destroyed in the Persian invasion of 614. During the following centuries the church was destroyed and rebuilt many times, but the crypt was left untouched, as for Muslims it is the burial place of the mother of prophet Isa (Jesus). It was rebuilt then in 1130 by the Crusaders, and it was destroyed again by Saladin in 1187, but the crypt was still respected. In the second half of the 14th century this church was rebuilt once more by Franciscan friars.

Descending stair dating from the 12th century
On the right side of the staircase (towards the east) there is the chapel of Mary's parents, Joachim and Anne.
On the left (towards the west) there is the chapel of Saint Joseph, Mary's husband.

Staircase of 47 steps, leading from the entrance down into crypt with the tomb.

The Tomb of Mary
Inside the Tomb of Mary, there is a stone bench on which the Virgin's body was laid out.

Western apse : icon of Mary and Jesus, Eastern apse : Mary and baby Jesus

*texts sources : wikipedia, brochures on site

*more infos about Tomb of Virgin Mary : http://www.haeunchurch.com/board_ljxq48/6013

Garden of Gethsemane

Gethsemane means "oil press"
It is the place where Jesus prayed and his disciples slept the night before his crucifixion.

Church of All Nations

Location : Jerusalem

Affiliation : Roman Catholic
Country : State of Palestine

Completed : 1924

Architect : Antonio Barluzzi

The church was built between 1919 and 1924 using funds donated from many countries.(Italy, France, Spain, UK, Belgium, Canada, Germany, USA, Ireland, Hungary, Poland, Austrailia, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Brazil). These multi-national donations give the church one of its present names as the "Church of All Nations".

The current church rests on the foundations of two earlier ones, that of a small 12th century Crusader chapel abandoned in 1345 and a 4th-century Byzantine basilica, destroyed by an earthquake in 746. In 1920, during work on the foundations, a column was founded two meters beneath the floor of the medieval crusader chapel. Fragments of a magnificent mosaic were also found. Following this discovery the architect immediately removed the new foundations and began excavations of the earlier church. After the remains of the Byzantine era church were fully excavated plans for the new church were altered and work continued on the current basilica from April 19, 1922 until June 1924.

The Rock of Agony : The bedrock where Jesus is believed to have prayed.
(photo copyright@https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_All_Nations#/media/File:4953-20080122-jerusalem-mt-olives-all-nations.jpg)

Another Rock of Agony in the garden.

*texts sources : wikipedia, brochures on site

*more infos about Church of All Nations(or Agony) : http://www.haeunchurch.com/board_ljxq48/5942

All Nations Cafe, next to the Garden

Golden Gate, view from Garden of Gethsemane

Church of Mary Magdalene

Dominus Flevit Church (눈물교회)

Location : Jerusalem

Affiliation : Roman Catholic
Country : Israel

Completed : 1955

Architect : Antonio Barluzzi

Dominus Flevit, which translates from Latin as "The Lord Wept", was fashioned in the shape of a teardrop to symbolize the tears of Christ.

The shape of a teardrop of Jesus

*texts sources : wikipedia, brochures on site

*more infos about Dominus Flevit Church : http://www.haeunchurch.com/board_ljxq48/5933

Old City, view from Dominus Flevit Church

Chapel of the Ascension

Location : Jerusalem

Affiliation : Christian, Islamic

Country : State of Palestine

Completed : 1150 (first church : 390)

It is a shrine located on the Mt of Olives, in the At-Tur(Arab majority neighborhood). Part of a larger complex consisting first of a Christian church and monastery, then an Islamic mosque, it is located on a site the faithful traditionally believe to be the earthly spot where Jesus ascended into Heaven forty days after his resurrection. It houses a flab of a stone believed to contain one of his footprints.
The chapel is located right behind the Mosque seen in the picture and it is now under the authority of the Islamic Waqf(islamic religious trust) of Jerusalem.

First sturcture was a rotunda, open to the sky(now it is covered), surrounded by circular porticos and arches. But the chapel and its surrounding structures were destroyed by the armies of the Persianshah Khosrau II during the final phase of the Byzantine-Sassanid Wars in 614. It was subsequently rebuilt in the late 7th century and the reconstructed church was eventually destroyed, and rebuilt a second time by the Crusaders in the 12th-century. This final church was eventually destroyed by the armies of Salah ad-Din, leaving only a partially intact outer 12x12 meter octagonal wall surrounding an inner 3x3 meter shrine, also octagonal, called a martyrium or edicule. This structure still stands today.