The Herodian Temple Mount is on Mount Moriah, where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac. The threshing floor that David purchased from Araunah the Jebusite to build the Temple stood on this spot and it was here that King Solomon built the First Temple, destroyed in 586 BCE by the Babylonians. The exiles who returned to Zion founded the Second Temple on the same spot in 536 BCE. Some 500 years later, Herod expanded the Temple Mount and rebuilt the Temple. Herod’s building, which was renowned for its magnificence and splendor, was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70. Some 600 years later the Muslims renovated the Temple Mount compound, its walls and gates, and built their mosques there. It should be noted that the summit of the Temple Mount is lower than all the peaks around it, reaching a height of only 743 meters above sea level.
The Western Wall
The Western Wall is one of the four walls of the Temple Mount built by King Herod some two thousand years ago, during the Second Temple period. Some of the upper layers of the Wall were demolished by the Romans when they destroyed the Temple in the year 70. All four walls of the Temple Mount were restored by the Muslims in the late 7th century. Over the years, the Western Wall has become a holy site and place of prayer, yearning, and contemplation for the Jewish people.
The Jewish Quarter
After the destruction of the Second Temple, the Jewish community moved from place to place in ancient Jerusalem until 600 years ago, when the community settled in this area. At first, only a few families lived in the Quarter, but over the years their numbers increased. By the mid 19th century overcrowding forced many Jews to move into other quarters in the Old City. Once residents began leaving the confines of the city walls in 1860, the status and importance of the Jewish Quarter eroded. By the time the Quarter had fallen into Jordanian hands in 1948, the population had dwindled. For nineteen years the Jewish Quarter was empty of Jewish residents, though it was renewed once again following the Six-Day War.
Mt Zion
Rising to a height of 765 meters above sea level, Mount Zion is, according to popular tradition, the site of King David’s tomb. The Byzantines were the first to call this place Mount Zion, although the name appears in the Bible in reference to Mount Moriah (2 Kings 19; Micah 4; Psalm 48, etc.). In the late First Temple period, Mount Zion and the area north of it were included in the city walls and the Bible calls it the suburb of Mishneh. During the Second Temple period, the area, which was known as the Upper City, was inhabited by Jerusalem’s aristocracy chiefly the priestly families.
Abu Tor
Abu Tor is a veteran Jerusalem neighborhood that was divided by the Israeli-Jordanian patrician from 1948 to 1967. The border crossed the heart of the neighborhood (today’s Asa-El Street) and produced a unique way of life that can still be felt today. The neighborhood's official Hebrew name, Givat Hananiya, comes from a Jewish tradition that a high priest by that name is buried here.
City Of David
The City of David is the ancient heart of Biblical Jerusalem from which the entire city developed. For details see "About the City of David".
Armon Hanaziv
Government House Hill, which rises to 800 meters above sea level, lies to the south of the Old City. The British High Commissioner built his residence on the ridge of the hill in 1930, giving the area its name. Some scholars identify this as the place from which Abraham first saw Mount Moriah on his way from Beersheva to sacrifice his son in the “land of Moriah.” During the Second Temple period, the lower aqueduct, which brought water from Solomon’s Pools near Bethlehem to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, transected the ridge. During the Six Day War, the battle for Jerusalem began here; the Jerusalem Brigade took control of the Government House and from here advanced to the Old City.
The Shiloach Village
The Arab village of Silwan is on the southern slopes of the Mount of Olives, east of the Kidron Valley. Hewn into the rock between the houses, which are perched atop and beneath the cliff face, are more than 50 burial caves dating from the First Temple period. In 1884, a Jewish neighborhood was established in Silwan for Yemenite Jews who had arrived in the country two years earlier. The neighborhood, named Kefar Hashiloah, suffered bitterly during the Arab riots of 1929 and was finally abandoned in 1938. Nevertheless, the original houses of the Jewish Kefar Hashiloah can still be seen among the Arab dwellings today.
Mt Of Olives Cemetery
The Jewish cemetery is located on the southern part of the Mount of Olives, which rises to a height of 832 meters above sea level. The Bible mentions the "ascent of olives" as the route by which David fled from his son Absalom (2 Sam. 15:30) and the peak from which he prayed to the G-d of Israel (2 Sam. 15:32). The Mount of Olives is also considered to be "the hill east of the city" in the account of the departure of the Divine Presence (Ezek. 11:23) and appears in Zechariah’s description of the End of Days (Zech. 14:4). Rabbinic tradition holds that the Divine Presence settled on the Mount of Olives after the Temple was destroyed (Lamentations Rabbah, Petichta 25, etc.) and is the place of the Resurrection at the End of Days. For this reason, the Mountain is considered a holy burial place for Jews. The cemetery on the ridge of the Mount of Olives is very ancient; apparently it was originally considered useful due to its soft, easily excavated rock. The cemetery in its present form was first used in the 16th century.
The Kidron Valley
The Kidron Valley has always formed the eastern geographic and municipal border of the City of David and Jerusalem. The Valley runs from Jerusalem’s Sanhedria neighborhood to the Dead Sea. During the First Temple period, the valley was particularly fertile due to a combination of silt deposits, a hot climate, and an abundance of water flowing through the valley. Over the years, a large amount of silt accumulated in the valley, now more than twelve meters higher than its original level.
The Southern Wall
One of the four walls of the Temple Mount built by Herod some 2,000 years ago. The distinguishing feature of the Southern Wall is the monumental Hulda Gate. Most of the pilgrims entered the Temple through this gate, so it is no wonder that a large number of mikvehs (purification pools) dating from the Second Temple period were found close to the Wall. During the First Temple period, this was the area of royal palaces and government buildings. The Southern Wall now forms part of the Archaeological Park.
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