The Western Wall, and more Old City treasures

I've made it to the Old City several more times, but have been too busy to post pictures until this afternoon. Below are a couple of cool sites from around the Old City (note that I'm mixing together photographs from several different trips).

Below, finally, are two pictures of the Western Wall. The Western Wall is the retaining wall to the Temple Mount complex (expanded by King Herod), where Solomon's Temple and the Second Temple once stood. Jews go here to pray because it is the closest they can get to the Foundation Stone, where the Ark of the Covenant once rested. As you can see, the Muslim Dome of the Rock is now built above the Foundation Stone. Notice (in the second picture) the little bits of paper that are stuffed in the cracks of the Wall--written prayer petitions.





At the Wall plaza, we witnessed the swearing-in of IDF paratroopers. The picture below captures Israel's multiple personalities quite effectively.



Here is a picture of me with the Temple Mount in the background.



Recall that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is shared by a number of Christian rites--Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, etc. Among the many rites that do not have a share in the Sepulcher are the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Coptic Christians. These groups, however, maintain a number of chapels around and ABOVE the Church proper. Below is a picture of me on the Sepulcher roof, outside of the houses of some Ethiopians. That's right--they live here.



The eighth station of the Via Dolorosa--Jesus falls for the third time--is commemorated by a Coptic chapel on the Sepulcher roof. The really impressive thing about the chapel, however, is that is gives access to a huge, ancient water cistern that waters the Church and the entire Christian quarter. To see the cistern, I had to duck down a tiny set of stairs (pictured below). The second photo is me at the edge of the huge pool.





Above the main entrance to the Sepulcher is the famous immovable ladder. The exact division of power in the Sepulcher between all the various Christian rites--the "status quo"--is so strict that the ladder has not been moved since 1852, when it was used to repair a window. Yes, I'm serious.



Behind the Tomb, the Sepulcher preserves part of the series of caves which originally stood on the site. The Church was built into the bedrock of these caves, though most of the material (except, of course, the spot where Christ was laid) was removed. The few caves that have been preserved, however, give a good picture of what the Tomb might have looked like in Jesus' time.



This picture from the Sepulcher shows graffiti which the Crusaders carved into the wall of a the staircase (though back then it was a tunnel) leading to the Chapel of St. Helena, near the site where the True Cross was supposedly found.



Below is a picture taken from the Jewish Quarter of the Mount of Olives, through the trees. If you look carefully, you will see that the whole side of the hill is now a cemetery. Jews are buried here because it is believed that the Mount of Olives will be the epicenter of the resurrection of the dead in the Messianic Age.



The last picture is a rather funny price tag I found outside a shop in the Jewish Quarter.