Description of the attraction
The Mount of Olives (Olive), separating the Old City from the Judean Desert, took its name from the olive groves, which in antiquity were dotted with all its slopes. This is one of the most famous places in the vicinity of Jerusalem mentioned in the Bible. The Mount of Olives is sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims.
The mountain is first mentioned in the Old Testament as the place where King David fled from his rebellious son Absalom. The monumental tomb of Absalom still stands on the western slope, reminiscent of this tragic story. Nearby are the ancient tombs of Zechariah and Bnei Khezir, and around - about 150 thousand graves of a huge Jewish cemetery, which is more than 3 thousand years old. The Jews have always sought to bury their loved ones on the Mount of Olives, since it is believed that it is here that the resurrection of the dead will begin, that is where the Messiah will come: "And the glory of the Lord rose from the midst of the city and stood over the mountain that is to the east of the city" (Eze 11:23), “And His feet will stand on that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before the face of Jerusalem to the east; and the Mount of Olives will split from east to west into a very large valley, and half of the mountain will move to the north, and half of it to the south”(Zech 14: 4).
Among those who found their last rest on the Mount of Olives are Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, the father of modern Hebrew Eliezer Ben Yehuda, media mogul Robert Maxwell, rabbi and prominent public figure of the early 20th century Abraham Yitzhak Kuk, Rabbi Shlomo Goren, who sounded a ritual the shofar horn at the Western Wall when Israeli soldiers liberated it during the 1967 Six Day War.
For Christians, the Mount of Olives is associated with many episodes from the New Testament: here Jesus taught the people, wept for the future of Jerusalem, prayed before his arrest, met the betrayal of Judas, and after the resurrection ascended to heaven.
An interfaith chapel, a Lutheran church and a Russian Orthodox monastery are dedicated to the Ascension of Jesus (which is also recognized by Muslims). In the Garden of Gethsemane there are ancient olives, descendants of those trees that saw Jesus struggling on the night of his arrest. The nearby Catholic Basilica of Boria keeps a piece of rock on which, according to legend, the prayer for the cup took place, and in the Gethsemane grotto, pilgrims remember the kiss of Judas. Nearby in the cave is the Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Eastern Christians revered this place as the tomb of the Virgin Mary.
Of course, tourists get tired of walking along the mountain, the height of the three peaks of which fluctuates within 800 meters (the highest point in the northern part, where the main campus of the Hebrew University is located, is 826 meters). Tourists are happy to relax on the observation deck near the Seven Arches Hotel. A magnificent view opens up from here. Behind the back there is the Pater Noster monastery, on the slope you can see the teardrop-shaped church of the Tears of the Lord, the golden domes of the Russian Church of St. Mary Magdalene and the ancient Jewish cemetery, and in front of the Old Town is spread.
