The Old City – Where religions and politics collide

THE OLD City is a 0.35-square mile enclave surrounded by the Walls of Jerusalem, in East Jerusalem. The length of the walls is 2.497 miles in total, their average height being 39 feet, and the average thickness, 8.2 feet.

In 1535, when Jerusalem was part of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Suleiman I ordered the ruined city walls to be rebuilt. The construction lasted from 1537 to 1541. The walls have 34 watchtowers and seven main gates (Damascus Gate, Herod’s Gate, Lions’ Gate, Golden Gate, Dung Gate, Zion Gate and Jaffa Gate) open for traffic, and two minor gates.

The Old City is divided into different quarters, which represent the different religious and ethnic groups that have lived within the wall for centuries. The four main quarters are the Armenian, Christian, Jewish and the Muslim quarters.

The Armenian quarter, the smallest of them, is not dedicated to any one particular religion. The Armenians have been in Jerusalem for about 1,500 years, after Armenia converted to Christianity as a state religion. A significant number of Armenians migrated to Jerusalem about 1915, when many Armenians fled Turkey during the war between Armenia and Turkey.

Access to the Armenian Quarter may be gained through the Jaffa and Zion gates. Places of interest are David’s Tower, The Citadel, St James Cathedral (the main church in this area, dating back to the era of the Crusaders), St Mark’s Chapel, which is one of the oldest churches in Jerusalem, and the Armenian Patriarchate. A patriarchate is the office or residence of an ecclesiastical patriarch. Armenians in Jerusalem follow the Julian calendar, and Christmas and New Year are celebrated on different dates than in the other quarters.

The Christian Quarter is at the north of the Armenian. Christians have a long and deep tie to the Old City, and there are many significant sites located in this part of the city. The main one is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed to have been built over the places where Jesus was crucified and buried. It dates back to about 336 CE.

To the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, many pilgrims walk a pathway called the Via Dolorosa, which represents the path that Christians believe Jesus actually walked on the way to His crucifixion. Various Christian groups control different parts of the church, and there are countless things to see, including the Edicule, or the shrine that encloses the tomb of Jesus, in the church itself.

Other sites significant in the Christian quarter are the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Saint Saviour Monastery, and St Abraham Monastery. There are also the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, the Latin Patriarchate, the Greek Catholic Patriarchate, Church of St John the Baptist, and the Coptic Patriarchate. Access to this section may be gained through the New and Jaffa gates. Christmas is a very special time in the Old City of Jerusalem, particularly in the Christian quarter, where there would be Christmas markets, etc, and a midnight mass at The Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

To the east of the Christian Quarter is the Muslim Quarter, which may be accessed through the Damascus, Herod’s, and Lions’ gates. Its most significant features are the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Dome of the Rock is a glistening golden structure that is the oldest existing Islamic monument in the world. The adjacent Al-Aqsa Mosque is considered by Muslims to be the place where the Prophet Mohammed had his encounter with God, and is a very holy site in Islam.

The area in which they are situated is called the Temple Mount. While all visitors are able to tour the outside area, non-Muslims are not allowed to enter the Dome of the Rock. The entire complex is closed to visitors on Fridays and Saturdays, and during Ramadan and various Muslim holidays. The Church of St Anne, the Church of the Flagellation, the Church of the Sisters of Zion, and the Church of St Veronica are also said to be in the Muslim section.

The Jewish Quarter is home to the most significant holy site in Judaism, the Western Wall (or Kotel in Hebrew). This wall is the last remaining portion of what is called the Second Jewish Temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. The piece of wall that remains and the plaza around it is visited by Jews from around the world, who pray at the wall and leave notes in its cracks.

Also in the Jewish Quarter, is King David’s Tomb, which is believed to be the burial site of King David from biblical times. There are many synagogues, including the famous Hurva Synagogue, as well as many yeshivas (places of Jewish study), and the Cardo, which was the main street during ancient Roman times. Access to the Jewish Quarter is through Zion Gate.

Steeped in the geopolitics of the region for thousands of years, Jerusalem has been the epicentre of religious events, oft controversial, and the city has been conquered and ruled by many different groups of people. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the Old City was captured by Jordan and all its Jewish residents were evicted. During the Six-Day War in 1967, Israeli forces captured the Old City along with the rest of East Jerusalem, subsequently annexing them as Israeli territory and reuniting them with the western part of the city.

The Israeli government controls the entire area, which it considers part of its national capital. The Jerusalem Law of 1980, which effectively annexed East Jerusalem to Israel, was declared null and void by United Nations Security Council Resolution 478. East Jerusalem is now regarded by the international community as part of occupied Palestinian territory. And the Old City? A potpourri of religions, and still mired in religious and political rhetoric.