Muslims call it the Noble . and Christians call it the . Built atop Mount Moriah in , this e most contested 36-acre site is the place where seminal events in Islam, Judaism and Christianity are said to have taken place, and it has been a flash point of conflict for millenniums. Many aspects of its meaning and history are still disputed by religious and political real estate on Earth? leaders, scholars, and even archaeologists. Several cycles of building and destruction have shaped what is on this hilltop today.

Dome of the Rock is a Muslim shrine to commemorate the prophet (blocked) Summer Al-Kas Agha Al-Aqsa mosque, 's Muhammad’s ascension into heaven accompanied by the angel Gabriel. It was is regarded as a holy Pulpit is “the cup” is thought to have meaning “the farthest Stables built in the late 600s A.D. on top of the site of the , restored by site in Judaism (arrival where the Fountain been built by , mosque,” is also are under the King Herod and destroyed by the Roman siege of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. of the ), imam stands is an the first sultan of known as Bayt southeastern Christianity (entrance to deliver ablution Egypt and , in the al-Muqaddas. ought courtyard of the of on Palm sermons. It fountain for late 1100s aer his to have been originally Temple Mount. It is Dome of the Ascension was built by Sunday) and Islam (site was built in Muslim armies recaptured constructed in thought that the Gates of Solomon’s the governor of Jerusalem in 1200. of future resurrection). the 1200s. worshipers. Palestine from the A.D. 705 atop King Crusaders, not the Tribes rone Gate of Crusaders, who had Herod’s temple Solomon, used Gate of Remission conquered it 88 years extension. Much of the this area as Atonement earlier. building as it stands stables. e area Gate of Darkness Solomon’s dates to its rebuilding was recently Dome NORTH Dome of al-Khalili GARDENS aer an earthquake in converted into a 1033. Muslim prayer hall Iron Gate for up to 7,000 Council Gate worshipers.

EAST GARDENS Dome of Tablets e Single Gate (blocked) Dome of Joseph

e Triple Gate (blocked)

e Double Gate MUSLIM (blocked) QUARTER White Cotton WESTERN Tower Ruined towers Merchants WALL Women’s e city walls were Gate Men Mosque destroyed in an earthquake in Bab al-Silsila Women 1033, and a new Minaret tower was built to was built in Dome of Moses Remains of protect the Double 1329. Robinson’s Arch Gate entrance. Aer the city fell to the Crusaders, the Jews consider the exposed Knights Templar portion to be the closest expanded the tower JEWISH accessible site to the holiest core and converted it into QUARTER of previous temples, and they a massive defensible come from around the world to pray structure, blocking here. A separate section is reserved the Double Gate. for Jewish women to pray. ere is a small but growing movement among Jewish activists who want time and space to Ramallah 0 2 pray on the Temple Mount, or, as it is called by 0 1/4 Noble Sanctuary/ MILES MILE Muslims, the Noble Sanctuary, home to the Temple Mount East and al-Aqsa mosque. Jerusalem WEST BANK Jews are allowed to enter the compound West through the Mughrabi Gate, but non-Muslim Jerusalem Muslim East Quarter Jerusalem prayer is forbidden. Now some Jews Old surreptitiously pray as they wander the grounds. Christian Dome of Quarter City the Rock ISRAEL Muslims warn that changing the delicate status quo could be an explosive issue. Al-Aqsa West Western Wall mosque Jerusalem Mughrabi Gate Islamic Museum Mughrabi Gate Jewish is thought to have been created in the Established by the Quarter early 1200s and named aer nearby Supreme Muslim Council WEST Jerusalem residents who had come to Jerusalem in 1923, it is housed in a municipal BANK Bethlehem boundary from Morocco. e gate is open via a Photo reference source: wing added by the Green Line (disputed) covered wooden bridge. It is the only access to Hanan Isachar Photography Knights Templar during (under 1949 ISRAEL WEST BANK the al-Aqsa Mosque compound for non-Muslims. their tenure in the 1100s. armistice accord) POOL OF SILOAM Five stages in the development of the Noble Sanctuary: A Muslim shrine supplants a Jewish temple Before any temple or mosque was built on Mount Moriah, there was only an outcropping of bedrock. Among the significant associations attached to the rock by various traditions are that it originated in the Garden of Eden (or that dirt from it went to the Garden of Eden), that the prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven from it, that Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son on it, and that it is the source of all Earth’s water. According to the Bible, King Solomon built the first temple there about 1000 B.C.

700 B.C. 168 B.C. Israel’s King Hezekiah expanded the Aer Seleucid King Antiochus IV Temple Mount aer his predecessor, Epiphanes ransacked the city, he built 20 B.C. Ahaz, plundered the temple. He built a fortress called Akra adjacent to the 142 to 63 B.C. King Herod ordered a major renovation and A.D. 691 the walls and platform that form the grounds and erected an altar to Zeus Under the Hasmonean Dynasty, expansion of the Second Temple and greatly During the Umayyad period, the Dome of the Rock was built over courtyard. e first temple stood until in the temple. Oppressive anti-Judaism founded by the Maccabees, the enlarged the square. All four New Testament what was thought to be the innermost portion of the original Babylon’s Nebuchadnezzar destroyed laws sparked the Maccabean revolt temple was “purified” and gospels tell the story of Jesus chasing money temple, including the , which only the high priest it in 586 B.C., and Jews built a second that Hanukkah commemorates, and restored and its platform changers out of this temple. It was destroyed during could enter. Al-Aqsa mosque was erected over part of Herod’s temple a generation later. the fortress was demolished. extended to the south. a Roman invasion under Emperor Titus in A.D. 70. addition, and several public buildings were later added. Sources: Ritmeyer Archaeological Design, Encyclopaedia Britannica, noblesanctuary.com, BibleWalks.com, thekotel.org, Temple Mount Archaeology, Israel Ministry of Foreign Aairs and Smithsonian Magazine RICHARD JOHNSON, GENE THORP AND BONNIE BERKOWITZ/THE WASHINGTON POST