brown bar

Jerusalem, The Old City

brown bar

Sacred to three religions and once considered to be the very centre of the world, the Holy City is, despite its fame, a surprisingly small place.

Jerusalem is at the centre of the modern Israel-Palestine question. According to the Israelis, it is one city. In reality however, it is two distinct countries. Its two halves live side by side in uneasy tension, a tension constantly on the increase due in large part to the construction of the new Jewish settlements that encroach upon Palestinian land.

We lived in Beit Hanina, a Palestinian neighbourhood in the north-east of Jerusalem, about 10 km from Ramallah.

The Old City is the heart of Jerusalem. It contains almost everything that most tourists come to see. Inside its ancient walls (some layers of stone work date back to the 3rd century B.C.) lie the Dome of the Rock, the Wailing Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Via Dolorosa, the Western Wall tunnel, the souqs (markets), and many other fascinating points of interest including reconstructions of Roman and Crusader sites, and lovely churches.

The Old City is divided into four sections, or 'quarters'. Click on the links below to see photos of each 'quarter'.:

Armenian,

Christian,

Jewish, and

Muslim.

brown bar

Some views of the Old City.

To view any photo at full size, click on the photo with the left mouse button.

Religious procession in the Armenian Quarter	Courtyard of the Armenian Museum	Architecture of the Armenian Quarter
Outside the Jaffa Gate, entrance to the Christian Quarter.	Old men relaxing over their coffee and bubble pipes with a game of back gammon.	A Coptic priest, near the Coptic Monastery in the Christian Quarter.
A doorway in the Jewish Quarter.	The Western (Wailing) Wall, with the Dome of the Rock peeping over the top	A High Holiday at the Western Wall.
One of the suqs, or market areas, in the Muslim Quarter.	Another Suq in the Muslim Quarter.	Muslim Quarter, decorated wall of a home whose owner has been on the Haj.

brown bar

Click on the link to visit the other pages in the Jerusalem section:

the Armenian Quarter,

the Christian Quarter,

the Jewish Quarter,

the Muslim Quarter,

the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,

St Anne's Church,

the Western Wall Tunnel, and

Jerusalem in the snow.

brown bar

brown bar

Patti

This page was updated on 5 December 2007.

Contact me at: patti.primeau@sympatico.ca

This site was edited using Nvu and Style Master.

brown bar