Jerusalem is located in the heart of Israel and is divided into threesections: the Old City, New City (West Jerusalem), and East Jerusalem. Inthe center is the Old City which is split up into four main sections:Muslim Quarter, Jewish Quarter, Christian Quarter, and the ArmenianQuarter. Also, the Old City is the site of many religious and historicallandmarks. Within Jewish Quarters, the main attraction is the Western (Wailing)Wall Wall”). It’s dubbed the “Wailing Wall” because many Jews come to praythere, and their prayers sound like wailing.
The Wall is the smallremaining part of King Solomon’s Temple. After the Jews were banished fromTemple Mount, the Western Wall became the most sacred place of Judaism. There are two major sects of Jews in this part of the city. There is theSephardic group, who come from Spain, Africa, and the Mediterranean, andthere is the Ashkenazic group, who come from Northern Europe.
Another section of the Old City is the Christian Quarter. The centerof this part of the city is The Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It isbelieved that the Via Dolorosa, a street, was the site of the originalStations of the Cross. Furthermore, it is maintained that Jesus wasoriginally buried at this site. The Church was rebuilt by Crusaders in 1099CE, but it was originally built in the fourth century.
The St. James Cathedral is the center of attention in the Armenianpart. Many families who escaped the Armenian Holocaust in 1915 settled inthe Old City. Many of the residents of this part of the Armenian Quarterpractice the Greek Orthodox religion. The last section of the city is the Muslim Section.
Atop the TempleMount are the gold-domed Dome of the Rock (661 BCE) and the silver-domedal-Aqsa mosques. The Rock referred to in Dome of the Rock is Mt. Zion. Thisis where Abram went to sacrifice Isaac and Muhammed ascended to heaven.
