History of Jerusalem: The Holy City
Located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and Dead Seas, Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world, and one of the holiest sites for Judaism, Christianity and Islam. First settled around 3500 BCE during the Early Bronze Age, in 1000 BCE, King David conquered Jerusalem, crowning the city the capital of the Jewish Kingdom.
Jerusalem Temple History
40 years later, his son Solomon built the first holy Temple, until it was destroyed in 586 BCE by invading Babylonians, who sent the Jews into exile for the next 50 years. Over the next several hundred years, the city would be conquered and ruled by a host of occupiers, including the Romans, Persians, Arabs, Fatimids, Seljuk Turks, Crusaders, Egyptians, Mamelukes and the Ottomans Empire.
In more recent times, after World War One, Britain took control of the city, and although Israel was recognized as an independent state in 1948, Jerusalem remained divided until the 1967 Six-Day War, which in turn gave Israel full control of the city.
Hotbed for Religious Conflict
To this day, Jerusalem remains one of the world’s holiest places on earth for Christians, Jews and Islamists, which over the years has made the city a hotbed of conflict between competing religions for control of the city’s many holy places.
The holiest place of all is Temple Mount, which is home to the Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque, the later being the third holiest site in all of Islam, behind Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. The Dome of the Rock is one of the oldest surviving Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, which was constructed exactly where Muslims believe Muhammad ascended into heaven.
The silver-domed al-Aqsa Mosque sits adjacent to the Dome of the Rock, while the Western Wall or “Wailing Wall” is all that remains of the second Jewish Temple, attracting millions of Jews each year to pray at the holiest site in the Judaic religion. Located in the Christian quarter of Jerusalem and built in 335 A.D., another important holy site is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, as well as the site where his resurrection occurred. Thousands of Christian pilgrims from around the world visit the church each year, making Jerusalem holy ground for some of the largest and most practiced religions in the world.