A Brief History of Jerusalem

In the center of Jerusalem is the Dome of the Rock. This building is a shrine built over a large stone. This holy rock is known as The Foundation Stone.

This rock is believed to be the location where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac to God which makes it the holiest site in Judaism. Muslims believe it to be the location from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended into heaven making it one of the holiest sites in Islam.

A year before the Hijra, Muhammad is believe to have ridden a winged horse name Buraq from Mecca to Jerusalem. Once in Jerusalem, he was lifted from the Rock to heaven by God, and then brought back down to earth. He returned to Mecca that same night on the winged horse. For the first 17 months after the Hijra, Muhammad and his followers faced Jerusalem during prayer. Muhammad was then instructed by God to face Mecca, and Muslims have prayed in the direction of the Ka’aba ever since.

In addition to being the location of Isaac’s near sacrifice, it is believed to have been the location of the Holy of Holies in the Jewish Temple. The Holy of Holies was an inner shrine which housed the Arc of the Covenant. The Arc of the Covenant carried the Ten Commandments Given by God to Moses. Although the Holy of Holies no longer stands, many Jews believe The Arc of the Covenant remains buried deep in The Foundation Stone.

Underneath The Foundation Stone is a small cave called The Well of Souls.

The Foundation Stone and The Dome of the Rock sit on what is known as Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Prior to their destruction, Temple Mount was home to two separate Jewish temples. The first of these was Solomon’s Temple. It was constructed in 957 BCE and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE at which time the Jewish people were enslaved in Babylon. The second temple began to be constructed in 538 BCE when the Jewish people were released from captivity by the Persian Emperor Cyrus the Great. This second temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE after the Jewish or “Helot” revolts.

The Western Wall is all that remains of the second temple. Following the Temple Mount itself, the wall is the most sacred location for Jews.

After the destruction of the second temple the Romans built temples to both Venus and Jupiter on the ruins of the old Jewish Temple. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the Temple of Venus was destroyed and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was built in its place. Christians believe the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is built on the location of Jesus’s death and resurrection. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher (although reconstructed) still stands in Jerusalem today.

The Temple of Jupiter on the Temple Mount was replaced by the Church of Holy Wisdom. Both the Church of Holy Wisdom and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher were commissioned by Emperor Constantine who was the first Christian Emperor.

Jerusalem was captured from the Byzantine Empire by the Muslims under the second Caliph Umar in 638 C.E. Although Christians were allowed to continue living in the city and practicing their faith, the Church of Holy Wisdom on the Temple Mount was destroyed and the Dome of the Rock as well as the Al-Aqsa Mosque were commissioned. Al-Aqsa Mosque Dome of the Rock

The city remained under Islamic control for the next 461 years. During that time it was part of the Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid Caliphates. Jerusalem was recaptured by Christians during the first Crusade in The Crusaders set up various Kingdoms in the Holy land where they ruled until Saladin recaptured Jerusalem in In 1517, the city became part of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans would rule over the city for the next 400 years until it was surrendered to the British in 1917 during World War I. During the time of British control, Jerusalem saw a huge influx of Jewish immigrants and experienced growing unrest between Jews and Muslims.

In 1947, The UN created a partition plan which designated the city of Jerusalem as a partitioned, UN controlled settlement. In the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Israel took control of 12 of the 15 Arab residential quarters in the city and displaced 30,000 Arab refugees. Jordan seized the eastern half of the city including most of the important religious sites. Half of the synagogues in the old city were either destroyed or turned into hen-houses. East Jerusalem was captured by Israel in 1967 during the Six Day War. Although the temple mount was allowed to remain under Muslim control, Israel claimed the rest of the city.

The Moroccan quarter of Jerusalem’s old city was bulldozed in 1967 by the Israeli government to ensure easy access to the Western Wall.

Today, the Old City of Jerusalem is divided into different quarters. Some of the important religious sites are shown in the map to the left.