The Jerusalem that Jesus knew had been re-
built by King Solomon, conquered by the
Egyptians, destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, en-
tered peacefully by Alexander, partially de-
molished by Ptolemy I, and finally captured
by the Romans under Pompey. Because Jesus
was crucified here and arose from the dead,
this city is forever sacred to Christians.

To the Moslems this city is second in im-
portance only to Mecca. From here, Mohammed, according to their belief, was carried to heaven by the Angel Gabriel in a dream. This
thrice-holy city is revered equally by Christian,
Moslem, and Jew.

SCENE 1. As we stand on the Mount of
Olives amid ancient Jewish graves, we look
across the olive-terraced Kedron Valley to the
Old City of Jerusalem surrounded by its wall.
The blocked-up arches in the wall to the right
mark the Golden Gate which has been blocked
up since 810 A.D. by the Arabs who feared
that a Christian conqueror would enter by it.
Inside the wall, the large domed building

which attracts our eye is the Dome of the Rock.
Where this octagonal Moslem sanctuary now
stands, formerly stood the great temple of
Herod in Jesus' time, and, before that, the
Biblical temple of Solomon.

SCENE 2. In the shade of this gnarled olive
tree we may rest and contemplate the low
spire to our left which is the tomb of David's
disobedient son, Absalom. Looking out across
the Kedron Valley we see, in the left distance,
the west wall of Jerusalem disappearing to the
north. Both the Moslems and the Jews believe
that this valley will be the scene of the Last
Judgment.

SCENE 3. We stand on the sun-baked earth
before the walls of Jerusalem at the famous
Damascus Gate. Towering 38^2 feet from the
ground, this wall is protected by towers for
flank fire and jutting bastions for pouring hot
pitch and tar on attackers. From this gate, and
from its counterpart in the time of Christ, set
out great camel caravans to Damascus, Persia,
and the fabulous Orient.

SCENE 4. Over the rooftops we look upon
the holiest spot in the Christian world—the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Since the 4th
century, when Emperor Constantine pulled
down Hadrian's pagan sanctuary of Venus and
unearthed a rock tomb believed to be that of
Jesus, this has been the traditional site of both
the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

The large dome is directly over the Holy
Sepulchre, while the small, studded dome at
its right covers what most Christians believe
to be Golgotha, or Calvary. In this church,
originally built by Constantine, we can see the
workmanship of Byzantine emperors, Mos-
lems, the Crusaders who completely rebuilt it,
and the modern Greeks who tried to repair it.
Except for the tomb itself, which all share,
every part of this church is now divided among
the various Christian religions. For example,
the roof, on which we see the flat dome at the
right just inside the railing, is the only place
left for the Abyssinian church. Here these
devout black men hold their masses in a little
"cellar" chapel in the roof.

Scene 6 Jaffa Gate

Scene 7 Mount of Olives

etc etc