Description of the attraction
The tomb of King David is located on Mount Zion, near the Benedictine Abbey of the Assumption. Since the 12th century, this place has been considered as the burial place of the legendary biblical king.
King David is one of the most striking figures of the Old Testament, the image of an ideal ruler, from whose family came the Messiah predicted by the prophets, Jesus Christ. The simple shepherd David was anointed by the prophet Samuel for the future kingdom. Poet and musician, playing the harp, he saved King Saul from an evil spirit. A brave warrior, he defeated the giant Goliath by slaying him with a stone from a sling. Saul was jealous of David's glory, the future king had to emigrate and even go into the service of his recent enemies, the Philistines. When Saul died, the tribe of Judah proclaimed him king of the Jews. After a two-year civil war, the elders recognized David as king of all Israel.
David became a great king. He turned Jerusalem into a major religious center by placing the Ark of the Covenant on Mount Zion (the stricken Jews watched an unprecedented sight: the king personally danced in front of the Ark, which was being taken to the Tabernacle). David united Israel, creating a great power from Sinai to the Euphrates. He prepared the construction of the First Temple, leaving everything necessary (drawings and means) to his son Solomon.
David was not a perfect person. He seduced the wife of the warrior Uriah Bathsheba, and sent her husband to certain death. Repenting of this sin, the king composed a heartfelt penitential Psalm (fiftieth), the words of which for thousands of years wash souls - "Have mercy on me, God, according to your great mercy …". The image of the ruler is captured in many works of art, the most famous of which is the sculpture "David" by Michelangelo.
The king, who died at the age of seventy, was buried in Jerusalem, "the city of David." But scientists still argue about the exact place of his burial.
The current tomb (possibly a cenotaph) is located on the first floor of a building left over from the medieval church of Saint Sion. The burial was discovered in the XII century during the renovation of the temple. Its history over the past eight centuries is poorly known, because the Persians, crusaders, soldiers of Saladin, Ottoman Turks ruled here. The building is now part of the yeshiva (Jewish religious school). On its top floor there is a room that is considered the chamber of the Last Supper. Even higher, on the roof, is a Muslim minaret.
In 1948-1967, when the Old City was occupied by Jordan, Jewish pilgrims from all over the world flocked here to look at the inaccessible Western Wall and pray. It was then (in 1949) that the tombstone was covered with velvet with the Torah texts embroidered in gold. The chambers of the tomb are several quiet, cool rooms with vaulted ceilings. All explanatory inscriptions are in Hebrew. In front of the entrance to the tomb there is a monument to the tsar by Russian sculptors Alexander Demin and Alexander Ustenko.
Although the contents of the sarcophagus have never been scientifically analyzed, an age-old tradition firmly links it with the name of the legendary ruler, from whose family the Savior appeared to the world.
