Jerusalem is one of the world’s oldest and holiest cities home to the most important historical and religious sites and landmarks for Muslims and Christians which includes Mosques Churches schools minarets caves cemeteries ramps and fortifications.
The city’s most prominent ancient sites:
The Old City is a walled area of about one square kilometer within the modern city of Jerusalem. It is home to several sites of key religious importance most notably the Aqsa Mosque compound (al-Haram esh-Sharif) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
There are many Palestinian neighborhoods in the Old City within four quarters which are the Muslim Quarter the Christian Quarter the Armenian Quarter and the Jewish Quarter. Some of the famous neighborhoods are Saadiya Bab Huta Asharaf and al-Maghariba.
Al-Haram esh-Sharif or the Aqsa Mosque compound lies in the eastern part of the holy city and its old walls and it encompasses several imposing mosque edifices as well as prayer houses and yards like the Dome of the Rock the grey-domed Aqsa Mosque al-Buraq Mosque al-Marwani Mosque (underground prayer house) al-Maghariba Mosque and the Women’s Mosque.
However there are a large number of other Mosques within the Old City’s walls including al-Midana al-Hamra Nabi Dawoud al-Shurbaji al-Hariri al-Omari al-Saghir al-Omari al-Kabir Qalawoon Othman Ibn Affan Omar Ibn al-Khattab and many others.
The minarets domes and gates of al-Haram esh-Sharif:
The Aqsa Mosque compound has four Adhan minarets on the southern northern and western sides of the holy site namely Bab al-Maghariba or al-Fakhariyya Bab al-Silsila Bab al-Ghawanima and Bab al-Asbat.
Several structures inside the compound also have domes and the most prominent one is known as the Dome of the Rock.
The Dome of the Rock was built over the rock where Prophet Muhammad ascended to the heavens during his Night Journey in the seventh century.
The Islamic holy site can be accessed through several gates but some of them are closed. The open gates are known as Bab al-Asbat Bab Huta King Faisal Gate Bab al-Ghawanima Bab an-Nadhir Bab al-Hadid Bab al-Qattanin Bab al-Matharah Bab as-Silsila and Bab al-Maghariba.
Churches and Monasteries of Jerusalem:
In addition to the Islamic monuments the city of the heavenly religions contains many famous Christian holy sites and the most prominent of them are the Church of the Holy Sepulchre the Church of All Nations the Monastery of St. Mark and the Church of Mary Magdalene.
