Jerusalem Essential: The Temple Mount, the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock, and the Via Dolorosa in the Most Sacred Single City on Earth
The Jerusalem essential circuit covers the Temple Mount as the most religiously contested single site on earth, the Western Wall as the most sacred single Jewish prayer site, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as the most sacred single Christian site, the Dome of the Rock, and the Via Dolorosa.
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Temple Mount: The Most Contested Holy Site on Earth
The Temple Mount (Har HaBayit in Hebrew, Haram al-Sharif in Arabic, the most religiously contested single elevated platform in the world at 36 acres in the Jerusalem Old City), is simultaneously the most sacred single Jewish site (the location of the First and Second Temples), the most important single Islamic site outside Mecca and Medina (the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock), and the most theologically significant single Christian site (the location of Jesus temple teachings). The status of the Temple Mount is the most politically irresolvable single point of contention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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Western Wall: The Most Sacred Jewish Prayer Site
The Western Wall (HaKotel HaMa'aravi, the most sacred single accessible remnant of the Second Temple retaining wall, the most important single Jewish prayer site in the world and the most emotionally charged single site for the Jewish visitor regardless of religious observance level), where the most continuously maintained single Jewish prayer tradition has continued for centuries and where the practice of placing the most personally significant single written prayer in the wall cracks is the most universally observed single Jewish pilgrimage ritual.
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Dome of the Rock: The Most Beautiful Islamic Monument
The Dome of the Rock (Qubbat al-Sakhrah, built 691 AD, the most architecturally magnificent single early Islamic monument in the world with the most brilliantly golden single dome visible from every direction in Jerusalem, the most completely decorated single early Islamic interior with the most exquisitely crafted single Byzantine-inspired mosaic program), built over the rock from which Muhammad is said to have ascended to heaven, is the most recognizable single Jerusalem landmark and the most internationally photographed single Islamic building.
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Church of the Holy Sepulchre: The Most Sacred Christian Site
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre (the most sacred single site in the most important single Christian pilgrimage destination, believed by the most mainstream Christian tradition to contain both the site of the Crucifixion of Jesus at Golgotha and the tomb of the Resurrection), managed by the most contentiously negotiated single six-denomination Christian authority system (the Status Quo), is the most theologically significant single Christian monument and the church that provokes the most deeply emotional single Christian visitor response.
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Via Dolorosa: The Way of Sorrows
The Via Dolorosa (the most pilgrimage-walked single Jerusalem route tracing the 14 Stations of the Cross along the path Jesus carried the cross to Golgotha, through the most densely inhabited single Old City Muslim and Christian Quarter streets from the most historically debated single starting point at the Antonia Fortress to the most certainly identified single terminus at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre), is the most ritually processed single route in the most pilgrimage-visited single city in the Christian world.
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Jerusalem Old City Quarters: The Four Communities
The Jerusalem Old City (approximately 1 square kilometer, UNESCO World Heritage Site, the most densely religiously significant single urban area on earth) is divided into the Jewish Quarter (the most recently rebuilt single Old City quarter after the 1967 reunification), the Muslim Quarter (the most densely inhabited single Old City area), the Christian Quarter (the most pilgrim-destination single Old City quarter), and the Armenian Quarter (the most historically discrete single Old City community with the most continuous single 1700-year Armenian Jerusalem presence).