The Western Wall, considered the most sacred site for prayer and religious and national gatherings, has a magnetic appeal for the Jewish people. Many tourists, visitors, and worshippers visit the site, which is one of the most popular and highly recommended attractions in Jerusalem.

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The Western Wall

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Davidson Center, the Jerusalem Archaeological Park, is located nearby the Western Wall in the Old City. Davidson Center is one of Jerusalem’s top tourist attractions due to its historical and archeological significance and, of course, its beauty

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The Jerusalem Archaeological Park - Davidson Center

The Tower of David Museum is one of Jerusalem's distinct symbols representing thousands of years of history.

The Tower of David Museum

The Hurva Synagogue is considered the most incredible and magnificent synagogue in the Jewish Quarter and is a testimony to the renewal of the Ashkenazi Jewish settlement in Jerusalem.

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The Hurva Synagogue

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The museum allows us to look back into the everyday lives of the members of the Old Yishuv in Jerusalem. The Old Yishuv is the name of the Jewish settlement in Jerusalem, which was established before the departure from the walls of the Old City.

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Old Yishuv Court Museum

Embark on a journey to the "Upper City," deep beneath the earth's surface. During your visit, you'll get a fascinating glimpse into the homes of Jerusalem's elite, leaders, and priests who lived in this quarter around two thousand years ago, during the Second Temple period. 

The Quarter of the Priests' Houses (the renewed Herodian quarter)

Let’s take a tour of the burnt house and get to know one of the most important sites in the Old City. The Burnt House is a home from the Second Temple period that was excavated during the restoration of the Jewish Quarter after the unification of Jerusalem. 

The Burnt House (Katros House)

The museum, located in the heart of the Jewish Quarter, will tell, for the first time, from beginning to end, the story of the Western Wall platoon.

Beit Plugat HaKotel

Bnei Mikra Heritage Center is a unique museum dedicated to the Karaite Heritage, located in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem

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Karaite Jews Heritage Center

Al-Aqsa Mosque, located south of the Temple Mount near Shlomo's Ark, is a large and impressive place of prayer and one of the most important and sacred mosques in the Muslim world. The Al-Aqsa Mosque has the structure of a Byzantine basilica, and its dome is visible from a distance. Non-Muslims are prohibited from entering the mosque, but you can visit the complex during opening hours without entering the buildings.

Al-Aqsa Mosque

A photo exhibit of the defenders of the Jewish Quarter

Alone on the Walls - 1948 Old City Siege

The Chain of Generations Center relates the fascinating story of the Jewish people through 3,500 years - from exile to statehood, destruction to rebuilding, and crisis to hope - using music, sculpture, archaeology and light and sound effects.

Chain of Generations - Multimedia Show

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Christian Quarter - Old City

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Located at the heart of the Christian Quarter, this road is one of the most colorful streets in the old city. Its orientation is south to north, and it connect between David Street to Hachanke and Saint Francis Streets. The street serves mainly Christian pilgrims who visit Jerusalem, and therefore many shops offer an abundance of holy vessels and Christian souvenirs such as prayer beads, candles, thorn crowns and Judaica objects.

The Christian Quarter Road is a central and ancient street in the old city and specifically in the Christian Quarter. This can be concluded from the length and width of the street in relation to the other streets of the old city. It was a wide street constructed during the Roman period, when Jerusalem became a Roman pagan city named “Ilya Capitolina”. Excavations conducted in this street after 1967 exposed large and slotted paving stones dating back to the end of the Roman era (end of the 3<sup>rd</sup> century/beginning of the 4<sup>th</sup> century).

Christian Quarter Road

The Church of All Nations is located near the Garden of Gethsemane in the western part of Mount Olives, where, according to Christian tradition, Jesus prayed his last prayer. 

Church of All Nations & Gathsemane

The Church of Mary Magdalene is a Russian church on the western slopes of the Mount of Olives. The church was nicknamed the Onion Church thanks to its domes shape on its minarets that look like golden onions.

Church of Mary Magdalene

The Church of St John the Baptist is a small church in the south of the Christian quarter in the old city, at the corner of Christians Street and David Street. 

Church of St. John the Baptist

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the most sacred site for millions of Christian believers

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher

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This is the center of the Coptic Church in Jerusalem. The community of the Coptic Christians is an ancient Christian community originating in Egypt. The origin of the name “Coptic” is the word “Egyptus”, the Greek word for Egypt. According to their tradition, the Coptic Church was established by Saint Mark, one of the composers of the New Testament in the middle of the 1<sup>st</sup> century AD. Ancient Cristian scripts from the 2<sup>nd</sup> century onward were found in Egypt, and in its deserts emerged the Christian monasticism movement of the 3<sup>rd</sup> century.

Following the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the Coptic church split from the Byzantine church together with the Syrian and Ethiopian churches (followed by the Armenian church), due to their belief in “monophysitism” – a single and united nature of Jesus, godly and human, that cannot be separated. This is contrary to the “Dyophysitism” perception, which perceives Jesus as having two separate natures, godly and human.

The Coptic compound is named after Saint Anthony, and it houses the abode of the Coptic archbishop. The Coptic patriarch’s abode is located in Alexandria. The heart of the monastery is the church of Saint Anthony, named after the Egypt-born saint who ridded himself of all of his assets to live in isolation in the desert. Anthony, who is considered father of the monasticism movement, fought against the devil, who tried to snatch his hat- a symbol of piety and innocence. His hat was torn during this symbolic struggle between good and evil. In memory of this battle, the Coptic monks’ hats have a longitudinal stitch, from the nape to the forehead, which enables us to easily identify them. The Coptic Christians have their own calendar which starts from 285 AD, the year Emperor Diocletian came to power and started persecuting the Christians.

Below the compound there are a number of connected halls from the Middle Ages as well as a huge well carved in the stone. The ancient well is named after Helena, Emperor Constantine’s mother, who arrived in Jerusalem in the 4<sup>th</sup> century, and identified the location of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial. The Coptic community also owns the Chapel of the Virgin Mary that is adjacent to the Holy Sepulcher, and some other buildings in the Christian Quarter.

It is possible to visit Saint Helena’s Pool (it can be entered through the main entrance. On the right side there is a chapel dedicated to Helena, and further from the main entrance, there is another entrance to the well. It is customary to pay a small sum in exchange for the visit to the site).

Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate

This is one of the most beautiful and impressive gates among the gates of the wall

Damascus Gate

David Palombo (1920-1966) was a Turkish-born Israeli sculptor and painter best known for sculptures that adorn several famous sites in Israel. Among these are the gates for the Yizkor (memorial) Tent at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum and the previous entrance gates to the Knesset.

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David Palombo Museum

<p style="text-align: justify;">Islam’s third holiest site after Mecca and Medina, the Dome of the Rock is built on top of the <a href="https://itraveljerusalem.com/attraction/temple-mount/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Temple Mount</a> in the Old City. At the heart of the sanctuary is the Foundation Stone where, according to Islamic tradition, the prophet Muhammad ascended to Heaven.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The Dome, which was completed in 691-692 A.D., and has since come to define Jerusalem’s skyline, is an excellent example of middle Byzantine art. The man who initiated the construction, Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, hoped that the building, a shrine for pilgrims rather than a mosque for public worship, would “house the Muslims from cold and heat.” The structure was restored many times throughout the centuries, coated once with gold, then with tiles.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The most recent restoration of the site was carried out in 1998 by Jordan’s King Hussein II, who sold one of his houses in London to help fund the 80 kilograms of gold required to coat the dome. The sanctuary’s lavish interior is decorated with mosaic, marble and inscriptions. One of the reasons why the sanctuary has remained intact through the centuries, withstanding earthquakes that destroyed many nearby structures, is its octagonal shape.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Non-Muslim visitors are not allowed to enter the Dome of the Rock, but can get a close look from the Temple Mount courtyard during regular non-Muslim visiting hours.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">As with other holy sites in Jerusalem, visitors to the Temple Mount are asked to dress modestly.</p>

Visit Dome of the Rock - Jerusalem

Business owner George Kahvedjian is the son of legendary Armenian photographer Elia Kahvedjian who beginning in 1924 documented the history of Jerusalem through the lens of his camera. 

Elia Photo Service

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<h2>About the Sephardic Synagogues</h2>
If the Hurva Synagogue persisted as the Jewish Quarter’s central Ashkenazi place of worship throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries, when it comes to Sephardic synagogues, things were not quite as clear-cut.

In-fact, the main Sephardic house of prayer was a complex consisting of four adjoining sanctuaries: the Yochanan Ben Zakai Synagogue, the Istanbuli Synagogue, the Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue, and the Emtsai Synagogue.

When the Jewish Quarter fell to the Jordanians in the 1948 War of Independence, the Four Sephardic Synagogues were burnt and subsequently used as horse stables. After Israel recaptured the Old City in 1967, they were restored to their former glory and today continue to serve residents of the Jewish Quarter and visitors to the Old City.

Today, the synagogues also serve as venues for bar mitzvahs, weddings, lectures, lavish banquets and other types of events.
<h3>The Yochanan Ben Zakai Synagogue</h3>
The Yochanan Ben Zakai Synagogue was erected in the early 17th-century in a Gothic-Spanish motif. Named after one of the founders of the Sanhedrin in Yavne following the destruction of the Second Temple, the site is also thought to be where Yochanan Ben Zakai's midrash (scholarly institution) once stood.

The synagogue hall is particularly significant to the Sephardic community because it was the home of the chief Sephardic rabbi during the eras of Ottoman and British rule in Israel. Recently, it also hosted the coronation of Israel's chief Sephardic rabbi.
<h3>The Eliahu Hanavi Synagogue</h3>
The Eliahu Hanavi Synagogue is the oldest of the 4 Sephardic synagogues, established in the 16th century as a school for studying Jewish law and was only used for prayer during holidays.

It was named for the prophet Elijah after one day when the congregation was missing a person to complete the quorum, a mysterious stranger arrived to complete the quorum. Believing that the stranger was the prophet Elijah, the congregants named the synagogue after him and have kept the chair he sat in until this very day.

While it was originally Sephardic, the synagogue has been Ashkenazi since the 18th century.
<h3>The Emtsai Synagogue</h3>
The smallest of the 4 synagogues, the Independent synagogue was built between the others, and it is believed that the space had previously served as the women’s section of the adjacent Yochanan Ben Zakai Synagogue.

According to tradition, the synagogue was built atop a tunnel system that connected the synagogues to the tombs of the kings.
<h3>Istanbuli Synagogue</h3>
The Istanbuli Synagogue, the largest of the four, was built in the 1760s by the city’s burgeoning community of Turkish Jews. The Emtsai (or ‘middle’) Synagogue was established in the mid-18th century in order to accommodate the rapidly growing Sephardic community.

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Four Sephardic Synagogues in Jerusalem

Those who have visited Tzfat invariably tour the HaAri synagogue for its history and ornate decor. However, few know that there is another HaAri synagogue right in Jerusalem's Old City.

Rabbi Issac Luria, also known as The Ari, or "HaAri" (literally, "the lion," but also a Hebrew acronym meaning "the divine Rabbi Isaac"), was one of the most prominent mystics in Jewish history. The HaAri, who lived in the 16th century, for the most part in the north of Israel, established a school of Jewish mysticism known as Lurianic Kabbalah.

The system revolutionized Kabbalistic thought and continues to be hugely influential both among Jewish mystics and in the pop-Kaballah circles made famous (some would say, infamous) by such practitioners as Madonna, Ashton Kutcher, and David Beckham. According to tradition, the HaAri Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City is located in the building where Luria was born and resided for 20 years.

Like several other houses of prayer, the HaAri Synagogue was established inside a residential building in order to avoid detection by the Ottoman authorities, who had forbidden the city’s Jews to engage in public prayer. The synagogue was destroyed during the Arab riots of 1936, but has since been restored.

HaAri Synagogue

The Jaffa Gate is one of the eight gates of the Old City of Jerusalem. The gate is located on the city's western side, and you can reach it by public transport or private car, which we recommend leaving in the Mamilla Boulevard parking lot or the Karta parking lot (which is closer).

Jaffa Gate

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<p style="text-align: justify;">Lady Tonsok, daughter of Abdullah al-Muthaffariyye, was the wife of the Mameluke ruler Muthaffar al-Din. The lady dedicated the building at the end of the 14th-century to a Sufi order, a group of Muslim mystics, but continued to live in the palace until she died. She was buried in the tomb chamber across from the palace.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In the 16th-century Mameluke Jerusalem was conquered by the Ottoman army, which was armed with guns and cannons.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Under Ottoman rule Jerusalem became a frontier town at the edge of the Ottoman Empire, but the Temple Mount remained a major religious center. During this time the building was occupied by Hasseki Sultana, the most beloved of the wives of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the builder of the walls around the city of Jerusalem. She was known for her charitable works and established a soup kitchen to feed poor and needy Muslims.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">During the later Ottoman Period this became the site of the sar’iyye, the government building, which housed the local government and police force. Today the building is used as a vocational school.</p>

The Lady Tonsok Palace Facade

<p style="text-align: justify;">The Lion’s Gate is located near <a href="https://itraveljerusalem.com/attraction/mount-of-olives/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mount of Olives</a> and <a href="https://itraveljerusalem.com/attraction/via-dolorosa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Via Dolorosa</a>. This is one of the seven gates that were created in the wall of the old city, and the only one that is open towards the east. The gate was built as part of the wall of the old city during the 16<sup>th</sup> century by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. On both sides of the gate there are lion embossments. According to the legend, they were integrated into this structure following the dream of Sultan Suleiman, in which two lions were about to devour him, as a punishment for the situation of the holy city of Jerusalem, which was not protected at the time.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The sultan interpreted the dream as a sign from above, and ordered to surround the city with a wall. In fact, the embossments resemble cheetahs more than lions. Some say that they were taken from a more ancient building of the Mameluke ruler Baibars, whose symbol was a Cheetah.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Above the lion embossments there are additional decorations: flowers and arches are embossed between the embrasures, and above them an inscription that commemorates the construction of the city’s wall by Suleiman the Magnificent. On the upper part of the gate a terrace stands out, known as a “Mashikoli”. From this small terrace one can observe the outline of the wall, and possibly spill hot oil on intruders and unwanted guests. In the past it was a turn- gate, like Jaffa gate and others, which was meant to delay forces attempting to intrude into the city, but over the years it became a straight gate that enables the entrance of vehicles.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The gate has different names. In Arabic it is named “Bab Sitna Mariam”, due to the Christian site nearby, which indicates the location of the burial of Miriam, mother of Jesus, before she ascended to the sky. The Christians named the gate “Stephen’s Gate” after the first Martyr, the first tortured saint who died for his faith in Jesus. According to one of the traditions, Stephen was stoned next to this gate.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">On Sunday of the first week prior to Easter, the Christians walk the path of Jesus, starting from the Mount of Olives. This is the “Palm Sunday”, in which processions of the faithful march from Mount Olives and continue via the Lion’s Gate to the old city.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In June 1967 the IDF paratroopers entered the city via this gate on their way to the Temple Mount, and after 19 years during which the old city was in the hands of the Jordanians, the Jewish settlement there was renewed. At the foot of the wall lies a Muslim cemetery, which was constructed in this place, adjacent to the Temple Mount that is sacred in the Muslim tradition, due to the Muslim belief in the Day of Judgement and the resurrection, that is to take place here.</p>

Lion's Gate - Old City

The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer was inaugurated by the German emperor Wilhelm the 2<sup>nd</sup> during his visit to Jerusalem in 1898. The church was established upon the remnants of the Church of Santa Maria Latina, which was built during the Crusader era, and was part of a compound that contained also the hospital and another church named “Santa Maria Grande”.

The interior of the church is designed simply and modestly, with little decoration. This is a simple although impressive church. The church is built in a longitudinal- basilica model, arranged in a west-east axis. The front faces the east, as common in many churches. The simplicity of the church is a characteristic of the Protestant churches, which were established during the 16<sup>th</sup> century.

The Lutheran church belongs to the Protestant branching of Christianity, and it was named after Martin Luther, leader of the Reformation Movement that rebelled against the Catholic institution during the 16<sup>th</sup> century. Luther emphasized the accessibility of God and the Holy Scriptures to all people, without any mediators.

The Lutheran Germans established during the 19<sup>th</sup> century various education and welfare institution throughout Jerusalem, which were known for their high standards. The church was constructed upon the remnants of a crusader church, and the latter were integrated into the modern construction. During the crusader era, it housed the knight order named after Johan the Baptist (Saint John), an order that provided hospitality and aid for crusaders, therefore being known also as the “Hospitaller” order. One can ascend to a magnificent observation point from the bell tower of the church (paid entrance).