Jerusalem

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Jerusalem is the capital of the country of Israel and is also its biggest city. It covers an area of forty-eight square miles and has a population that exceeds seven hundred and sixty-three thousand residents. Of these residents, sixty four percent are Jewish, thirty-two percent Muslim and two percent are Christian. On average the population of the city grows between one and two percent per year. This city is situated between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea in the Judean Mountains. Jerusalem has a Meduterranean climate that has hot summers and cold winters. Summer temperatures average about twenty-nine degrees Celsius and the winter temperatures average about four degrees Celsius.

Jerusalem was the capital of the Kingdom of Judah for over four centuries. In the sixth century BC, the city was taken by the Babylonians and Jerusalem’s king was imprisoned. The Babylonians burnt down the temple, razed the city walls and put Gedaliah in power as the governor. Fifty days later, Gedaliah was assassinated and the remaining population of Judah escaped to Egypt. After the Persians conquered Babylon, Cyrus II of Persia let the Jews return and rebuild the temple. The temple was completed in 516 BC. Ezra and then Nehemiah was sent by Artaxerxes I and to govern Judah. After Alexander the Great invaded the Persian Empire, the city became subject to Greek control. When Alexander died, the city then fell under the rule of Ptolemy I. In 198 BC, Ptolemy V lost the city to the Seleucids after the Battle of Panium. Eventually, Jerusalem became a part of the Hasmonean Kingdom. The Hasmonean Kingdom remained intact for a little over a century. When the empire dissolved then the city fell under Roman rule, but retained a great deal of its autonomy. The Romans placed Herod as a Jewish King around 19 BC. In 66 CE Jerusalem rebelled against Roman rule. Titus quelled the rebellion and destroyed most of the city in the process. After the war, Jews were allowed to continue to live in the city and to practice their religion.

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Today, Jerusalem is a city that has many attractions to offer to tourists. One of the more popular attractions in the city is the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial. The Yad Vashem is the countries memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. It was established in 1953 and derives its name from the Bible. It is located at the base of Mount Herzl and covers an area of forty-five acres. It contains memorial sites, sculptures, a Holocaust museum, a museum of Holocaust art, a research institute, archives, synagogue, educational center and library. The Holocaust History Museum was founded in 2005 and is a triangle shaped building. Its over five hundred and forty feet long and its walls are made of concrete. The building covers an area of over twelve thousand square feet, and the majority of it is located underground. It features ten exhibition halls, with each one dedicated to a different part of the history of the Holocaust.

Another prominent attraction in Jerusalem is the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall. This is a religious site that dates back to 19 BC and was constructed by Herod the Great. The Wailing Wall is a one hundred and eighty seven foot section of prehistoric wall located on the western side of the Temple Mount. The wall faces a plaza and the actual wall stretches fourteen hundred feet past the Wailing Wall, with most of it being contained behind various residential structures. The wall has forty-five stone courses, with twenty-five or so located above ground. Dome of the Rock is another prominent attraction in Jerusalem. Its an Islamic shrine which is home to the Foundation Stone. Dome of the Rock was constructed in the seventh century and is one of the oldest Islamic buildings in the World. The most pronounced feature of this monument is its Dome which is covered in gold. The inside of the Dome is adorned with marble and mosaics, most of which were added centuries after the structure was built.

The biggest synagogue in the city of Jerusalem is the Belz Great Synagogue.

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The Belz Great Synagogue was built by the Belz Hasidic community during the 1980s. It was dedicated in the year 2000 and it has a seating capacity of over six thousand people. Inside is a wooden ark that is thirty-six feet high and weighs over eighteen tons. This ark is capable of holding seventy scrolls. The synagogue also has nine chandeliers. Each chandelier is eighteen feet high and eleven feet wide and contain almost a quarter million pieces of crystal. The Garden of Gethsemane is a garden located at the base of the Mount of Olives. It is known as the place where Jesus and his disciples prayed the night before his crucifixion.
Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a Christian church that is sometimes referred to as the Church of the Resurrection. It was built on an old Roman site that had been the home of a temple dedicated to Aphrodite. Emperor Constantine I ordered that the temple be demolished and ordering Macarius of Jerusalem,a local Bishop, to build a church on the location around the fourth century. During the construction of the church, Constatine’s mother Helena supposedly discovered the True Cross and the tomb of Jesus Christ.

Other prominent attractions in Jerusalem include Notre Dame de Sion Ecce Homo Convent, Temple Mount, the Garden Tomb, Old City of Jerusalem, Mount Herzl, Hezekiah’s Tunnels, Mount of Olives, Tower of David Museum, Ein Gedi Spa, Moses Montefiore Windmill, the Israel Museum, Mount Scopus Botanical Garden, Cardo, Holyland Model, Ben Yehuda Street, Tisch Family Zoological Gardens, Kennedy Memorial, Jaffa Gate, Mahne Yehuda Market, Church of Condemnation and Flagellation and El Asa Mosque. The city of Jerusalem is also home to a wide variety of restaurants and hotels. Hotels in the city include American Colony Hotel, Beit Shmuel Guest House, Inbal Hotel, Lev Yerushalayim Suite Hotel, Neve Shalom-Wahat al Salaam Guest House and Hostel, Ramat Rachel Hotel, Royal Plaza Olive Tree Hotel, Saint Mark’s Lutheran Guest House, Notre Dame Guest House, Mount Zion Hotel and Prima King’s Hotel.