
What I Saw In The Holy Land, 12
Psalm 48 describes Mt. Zion as the Lord's "holy mountain," and "joy of the whole earth," and it certainly seems thus when you consider everything that's located there. At left you see the cenacle, or upper room, scene of the Last Supper & later of Pentecost. And guess what is on the bottom floor of thus "upper room?" The traditional tomb of King David. I had no idea, but there is archaeological evidence of an ancient synagogue and Jewish veneration of the site going very far back. Apparently the wealthy friend who loaned Jesus this room made his house on the grounds of the site. Since Islam considers itself a correction of Judaism & Christianity, it also claims interest in Mt. Zion, and during Turkish rule, the cenacle was made part of a mosque which is no longer in use.
The entire mountain (which seems more like a hill now because so much has built up at its base) is filled with yeshivas of various provenance, as this is one of Judaism's holiest sites. Oskar Schindler is buried here, with the inscription "righteous gentile" over his gravesite.
Also on Mt. Zion are two churches of interest. The Benedictine Dormition Abbey is the place where Mary is said to have died --the tradition is that she made her home near the site of the cenacle after the Resurrection.

Lower down on Mt. Zion is the Church of Peter in Gallicantu (cock's crow), which is built on the site of Caiaphas' palace. The grounds of this Church are the best place to take pictures of the Mt. of Olives and the Kidron Valley, and there's also a wonderful scale model of the Cld City of Jerusalem that will show you how the city would have looked in Christ's time.
