Mount Zion once referred to the Temple Mount, but the name was appropriated for its present location, outside the walls of the Old City during the Middle Ages. Located just outside Zion Gate, the site has great significance for Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

 
Oskar Schindler tomb on Mount Zion    (Photo: Ron Peled)

The starting point for our walk is Zion Gate, at first glance your average gate, but in fact, a structure whose planning involved a great deal of tactical thought. It is riddled with rifle bullets, remnants of the War of Independence, and consequently acquired its nickname: “Wounded Gate”.

Outside the gate, a path passes above the adjacent parking lot, and after a few meters you will reach a fork in the road. The right hand fork continues close to the wall of Dominion Abbey. On the left, in the upper part of the wall, is a statue of a man, holding the cross of Jerusalem, once the symbol of the Crusaders and currently the symbol of the Franciscan monastic order, appointed custodians of the Catholic holy places by the Vatican and the Pope.

The figure in the statue is the founder of the order, St. Francis, who lived in Italy in the 12th century. Franciscan monks are a frequent sight around Israel, easily recognizable by their brown habits, triangular hats and triple-knotted white belts (representing the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, as well as the three monastic vows).

Zion Gate   (Photo: Ron Peled)

On to David's Tomb

Continue in the direction of the Dormition Abbey, walking straight and slightly to the left, up to the site of David’s Tomb. The site is probably the only place in Israel, and possibly in the world, that is home to a synagogue on the first floor, a former church on the second floor and a mosque on the roof.

There are many legends and myths abound about David’s Tomb, but the site is unlikely to house the actual remains of King David, since the Bible (I Kings: 2) says David was buried in the City of David, hundreds of meters from Mount Zion.

Notice the large mezuzah at the entrance to the site and the structure of the tomb itself, adorned with crowns from three Torah scrolls smuggled to Israel by Jewish communities destroyed in the Holocaust.

The Temple Mount Observation point, next to the minaret in Arabic of the Nebi Daoud (Prophet David) mosque, is so called because this was the closest Jews were allowed to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall between the years 1948-1967, when the Old City was under Jordanian occupation but Mount Zion was under Israeli rule.


King David's Tomb adorned with crowns from three Torah scrolls smuggled to Israel by Jewish communities destroyed in the Holocaust

(Photo: Ron Peled)

To the south is the famous Hass Promenade and Herbert Samuel’s former Government House, now the U.N. Headquarters. Turning to the east, you can see the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, and Intercontinental/Seven Arches Hotel.

Continuing to the north (left) is the tower of Augusta Victoria Hospital with its triangular roof, and further left from there – Hebrew University Tower on Mount Scopus. Beneath the University Tower, within the Old City, the tip of the golden Dome of the Rock, at the center of the Temple Mount, is just visible.

To the west is Dormitian Abbey in all its glory, and behind it the King David Hotel and the YMCA tower. In Latin, “dormire” means to sleep, and in the Abbey's name refers to the Virgin Mary, who Christians believe spent her last night in Zion there. A visit to the Abbey is highly recommended.

The Dormition Abbey - Mount Zion    (Photo: Ron Peled)

Crusader pillars and Muslim prayer halls

There is a door at the exit of the complex, leading to the hall of the Last Supper, known as the Coenaculum, a Crusader structure dating from the 12th century. Notice the impressive arches and the Muslim prayer niche facing Mecca.

Opposite the entrance is a Crusader pillar decorated in the shape of a falcon. On either side of the bird is a fledgling pecking at its belly. Jesus is depicted in many drawings as a cockerel with his followers depicted as chicks. Here the falcon represents Jesus and his followers are the fledglings biting his flesh to save their lives.

The Last Supper Room

According to Christian tradition, Jesus sat in this hall on the last Seder Night before his crucifixion. He allowed his disciples to drink wine (symbolizing his blood) and to eat bread (what were they doing having bread on Passover?) symbolizing his flesh.

This ceremony is still preserved as part of the Mass, and is perhaps best known for the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci. The Pope visited here in 1966 and as a result Israel was granted permission to pave the road leading from Sultan’s Pool to here, despite its proximity to the Jordanian border of that period.


You can also visit the grave of Oscar Schindler on Mount Zion, in the Church of St. Peter and other interesting cemeteries. I recommend visiting the place at night, although the abbey, the tomb and hall of the Last Supper close at dusk.

But there is no substitute for the beauty of the illuminated complex and the breathtaking view from the rooftop over the Old City and Jerusalem. Satisfaction guaranteed.

Imagine a magnificent burial plot covering several acres with an enormous courtyard at the entrance, many pyramids and decorations, stairs that lead to a plaza, a burial cave with an impressive burial stone, and wells and channels that bring rain waters to them. Now imagine that this is all carved in stone and has been in Jerusalem for 2,000 years.


Jerusalem - The Tomb Of The Kings   (Photo: Ron Peled)

The Tomb of the Kings, considered one of the largest and most luxurious tombs in the area, has long been popular with tourists. Some believed it should have been considered one of the wonders of the ancient world.

Today the tomb is owned by the French, and a French flag flies over it. Enter the site through a metal door on the corner of Nablus Road and Salah a-Din Street, near the American Colony Hotel and the Justice Ministry. The tomb has no formal visiting hours, so just knock hard on the door or ring the bell. Entrance

Robbers of the ancient grave

Carved in the steps are two channels for rainwater, which flows into a ritual bath. Theodor Herzl had himself photographed at the bottom of the steps when he visited with his retinue in the fall of 1898.


The Tomb Of The Kings   (Photo: Ron Peled)

At the bottom of the stairs on the left an arched stone gate leads to a square courtyard. The courtyard was hewn to a depth of nearly 30 feet, and some 20,000 tons of stone were removed to create it. Three pyramids are said to have once adorned the tomb’s facade above the opening. The tomb has no fewer than 48 graves, but over the years grave robbers plundered the sarcophagi.

To the right of the entrance is a tunnel where you can crawl for a few feet until you reach the burial chamber. To the right of the entrance opposite it you will see additional chambers. Bring a flashlight with you.

Josephus, who described the tomb in the first century C.E., tells of a queen named Helena who came to Jerusalem from Adiabene in Kurdistan in northern Iraq. Her family converted to Judaism and built a palace, apparently in the area of the City of David, at the end of the Second Temple Period. They also donated treasures to the Temple and helped the people in times of famine.


A tomb in the cave   (Photo: Ron Peled)

Josephus adds that Helena’s son Monobaz had her remains and those of his brother buried at a distance of “three stadia from Jerusalem,” and that this burial cave belongs to Helena and her family. It was medieval Europeans who mistakenly identified the tomb as belonging to the Kings of Judah. The kings’ burial place is mentioned in the Bible, but it has never been found.

In 1863 French archaeologist Felicien de Saulcy, with the permission of the Turkish sultan, began to excavate the tomb while he was also searching for the tablets of the law at Mount Nebo and conducting other excavations near Jerusalem’s Gate of Mercy. As early as 1847 the Turkish governor gave an order to search for treasures in the tomb, but no treasures were ever found.

The tomb might have been plundered before that, or perhaps there were no treasures hidden there. Conrad Schick, a German and one of the great archeologists of 19th-century Jerusalem, also worked on the site, drawing a precise map of the tomb.

De Saulcy found sarcophagi in the tomb, one of which had a Hebrew inscription, “Queen Tzaddah,” which was perhaps Queen Helena’s name in Greek. De Saulcy was convinced that this was the sarcophagus of the wife of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah.

When human bones were found in another sarcophagus the local Jewish community got involved and Chief Rabbi Chaim David Chazan complained to Sir Moses Montefiore and others, who persuaded the Ottoman rulers to stop the excavations. De Saulcy smuggled out some artifacts, including sarcophagi, which can today be see in the Louvre in Paris.

The French and the righteous

In 1864 French-Jewish banker Isaac Péreire unsuccessfully attempted to purchase the site in order to preserve it. In the 1870s another French Jew, Amalya Bertrand, paid 30,000 francs for it, and the site was registered as French territory under the trusteeship of the French consul.

Following the purchase of the tomb Bertrand declared: “I am of the firm opinion that this property, the field and the burial cave of the kings, will become the land in perpetuity of the Jewish community, to be preserved from desecration and abomination, and will never again be damaged by foreigners.”

Bertrand built a wall around the tomb and a guard post. While the work was being carried out the graves were robbed once again, and the Jews of the city moved the bones they found to the nearby tomb of Simon Hatzadik (Simon the Righteous), a Second Temple priest.


King David's Tomb?   (Photo: Ron Peled)

In 1886 the Tomb of the Kings was given by the Bertrand family as a gift to the French government, and since then the French flag has flown over it. In recent years attempts have been made to prove that the site belongs to the State of Israel.

The Jews of Jerusalem used to call the tomb “the tomb of Kalba Savua”—a wealthy Jew from Jerusalem who lived in the Second Temple period and was Rabbi Akiva’s father-in-law—because they believed he was buried there. Another tradition says that it is the tomb of Caleb son of Jephunneh, one of the Twelve Spies in the Bible. The tomb has also been called “the tomb of the Sultans.”

On Lag Ba’omer the Jews of the city used to visit the tomb, light candles, and pray for the ascent of the souls of the righteous who, according to tradition, were buried there.