Jerusalem - The Old City
Jerusalem
has been known as an old city for a long time. It was even old 3000 years ago
when David changed its name from "The Stronghold of Zion" to
Jerusalem. According to archaeologists the first city to stand here was built
in the Bronze Age (2500 BCE).
Here
Melchizedek the king of Shalem, came out to welcome Abraham (1800 BCE), the
first Jew, with bread and wine.
As the city grew and new suburbs were added so the older part became
known as the Old City to distinguish it from the new suburbs, which became
known as the New City.
The Old City of modern times dates from the days of the Ottoman Empire
and is marked by the wall built by their caliph Suleiman in 1538. He was known as "The Magnificent,
probably because of his fame as a builder of magnificent buildings, especially
in Istanbul. Sinan, one of the greatest architects in the world, was his
architect. Suleiman didn't neglect Jerusalem in his building operations but
here Sinan wasn't the architect. No less than 13 different architects were
involved in designing them.
Within these walls stand the some of the most holy sites in the world
for Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
Each of the religious groups occupies a different part of the Old City, known as quarters. The Jewish Quarter is the newest one, because it was rebuilt after the 6 days war in 1967. But it was built in the style of a Medieval city, which is the way it was before 1948 when the Arabs destroyed the quarter