Jerusalem — Temple Mount Photo Gallery

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Jerusalem Overview

Region: Judean Mountains
Biblical Territory: Benjamin (adjacent to Judah; later capital of the united kingdom and Judah)
Modern Site: Jerusalem, Israel
Nearby Landmark: Temple Mount
Scripture References: Gen. 22:2; 2 Sam. 5:6–10; 1 Kgs. 6–8; 2 Kgs. 25:8–10; Neh. 2–6; Luke 2:41–52; Matt. 21–28; Acts 1–2

Introduction

Jerusalem-Temple Mount — Jerusalem — Temple Mount

The Temple Mount has stood at the center of Jerusalem’s religious life for more than three thousand years. According to the Bible, this was the site of Solomon’s Temple and, later, the Second Temple expanded by Herod the Great during the time of Jesus.

Today, the platform is home to the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, making it one of Islam’s holiest places as well. Revered by Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike, the Temple Mount remains one of the world’s most sacred and historically significant religious sites. This gallery explores its principal landmarks, their history, and the events that have shaped this remarkable place.

Slide Presentation Major Events

Dome of the Rock - Jerusalem

Jerusalem Temple Mount

Jerusalem Temple Mount

Jerusalem Temple Mount

Jerusalem Temple Mount

Jerusalem Temple Mount

Al Aksa Mosque

Al Aksa Mosque

Al Aksa Mosque

Temple Mount - Al Aksa Mosque

Al Aksa Mosque

Al Aksa Mosque

Jerusalem - Western Wall

Jerusalem - Western Wall

Jerusalem - Western Wall

Jerusalem - Western Wall

Jerusalem - Western Wall

Jerusalem - Western Wall

Jerusalem - Western Wall

Jerusalem - Western Wall

Western Wall - Bar Mitzvah

Jerusalem - Western Wall

Western Wall Tunnels - Jerusalem

Western Wall Tunnels - Jerusalem

Western Wall Tunnels - Jerusalem

Western Wall Tunnels - Jerusalem

Western Wall Tunnels - Jerusalem

Western Wall Tunnels - Jerusalem

Jerusalem-Temple Mount

The Temple Mount rises above the southeastern corner of Jerusalem’s Old City, enclosed by the massive retaining walls expanded during the reign of Herod the Great. Today the platform is dominated by the Dome of the Rock (right) and the Al-Aqsa Mosque (left), making it one of the holiest and most contested religious sites in the world. For Jews, it is the location of Solomon’s and Herod’s temples. For Christians, it is where Jesus taught, healed, and cleansed the temple. For Muslims, it is the place from which Muhammad is believed to have ascended into heaven.

Jerusalem Temple Mount

The Dome of the Rock rises above the Mawazin ("the Scales"), graceful arcades that frame the ceremonial approach to Islam’s oldest surviving major monument. Completed in A.D. 691–692 by the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik, the shrine was built over the exposed bedrock at the summit of Mount Moriah, traditionally associated with Abraham’s offering of Isaac and, in Jewish tradition, the location of the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s Temple. According to later Islamic tradition, the scales used to judge humanity on the Day of Judgment will one day be suspended between these arches.

Jerusalem Temple Mount

Viewed from the southwest, the Dome of the Rock displays the brilliant blue, turquoise, and gold tilework that has become one of Jerusalem’s most recognizable landmarks. During this visit, two young women asked to have their photograph taken in front of the shrine—a surprisingly uncommon request from local visitors. Before I could offer to send them a copy, several men approached with obvious disapproval, bringing our brief encounter to an abrupt end.

Dome of the Rock - Jerusalem

The Kas (Cup) of Pharaoh, also known as the Fountain of Qasim Pasha, occupies the foreground of this view toward the Dome of the Rock. Built during the Ottoman period, it is one of several fountains on the Temple Mount where worshippers perform wudu, the ritual washing before prayer. Behind it stand the graceful Mawazin ("the Scales"), ceremonial arcades that frame the approach to the Dome of the Rock. According to later Islamic tradition, the scales used to judge humanity on the Day of Judgment will one day be suspended between these arches.

Jerusalem Temple Mount

The Dome of the Chain (Qubbat al-Silsila) is one of the oldest structures on the Temple Mount, dating to the early Umayyad period shortly after the completion of the Dome of the Rock. Historians remain uncertain about its original purpose. Some believe it served as an architectural model during the construction of the Dome of the Rock, while others suggest it functioned as a treasury, prayer pavilion, or place of judgment. Medieval Islamic tradition associated the shrine with a miraculous chain that distinguished truth from falsehood when legal disputes were judged before it.

Supported by seventeen slender columns arranged in two concentric rings, the open shrine creates a striking architectural contrast with the enclosed Dome of the Rock behind it. Its graceful proportions and colorful tilework have made it one of the Temple Mount’s most recognizable smaller monuments for more than thirteen centuries.

Jerusalem Temple Mount

The Dome of the Ascension (Qubbat al-Mi’raj) stands just northwest of the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. The shrine commemorates the Islamic tradition that the Prophet Muhammad ascended into heaven during the Night Journey (Isra and Mi’raj). The present structure dates primarily to the twelfth century, replacing an earlier Umayyad monument. Though much smaller than the Dome of the Rock, it reflects the many commemorative shrines that have been added to the Temple Mount over the centuries.

Jerusalem Temple Mount

The small domed structure near the center is one of several historic fountains and pavilions that supplied water for wudu, the ritual washing performed before Islamic prayer. Throughout the Temple Mount, an elaborate system of cisterns, channels, and fountains collected rainwater and distributed it to worshippers, making water an essential part of both the site’s engineering and its religious life.

Al Aksa Mosque

The Al-Aqsa Mosque occupies the southern end of the Temple Mount and is the principal congregational mosque within the Haram al-Sharif. The present structure reflects numerous periods of construction and restoration following repeated earthquakes, with much of the visible exterior dating to the Fatimid, Crusader, Ayyubid, and later Mamluk periods. For Muslims, Al-Aqsa is the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina.

Al Aksa Mosque

Viewed looking southwest, the broad façade of Al-Aqsa Mosque reveals the arcades and entrances that accommodate thousands of worshippers during Friday prayers and major Islamic festivals. Although the Dome of the Rock is the Temple Mount’s most recognizable landmark, Al-Aqsa serves as the sanctuary’s principal house of worship and remains the spiritual center of daily Muslim prayer in Jerusalem.

Al Aksa Mosque

Seen from the Mount of Olives, the silver-gray dome of Al-Aqsa Mosque rises above the southern end of the Temple Mount. While the golden Dome of the Rock dominates Jerusalem’s skyline, Al-Aqsa occupies a place of equal religious importance within Islam. According to Islamic tradition, the Prophet Muhammad led earlier prophets in prayer here before his ascension into heaven during the Night Journey.

Temple Mount - Al Aksa Mosque

The southwestern corner of the Temple Mount preserves part of Robinson’s Arch, one of the great engineering achievements of Herod the Great’s reconstruction of the temple in the first century BC. The surviving stones mark the beginning of a massive arch that supported a monumental staircase and bridge connecting Jerusalem’s Upper City with the Temple Mount above. The arch is named for American biblical scholar Edward Robinson, who first identified the structure in 1838.

Archaeological excavations have uncovered the streets, shops, and fallen masonry buried when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70, providing some of the clearest evidence of the temple’s immense scale and the devastation that followed its fall.

Al Aksa Mosque

The prayer hall of Al-Aqsa Mosque is supported by rows of marble columns and arches that create a spacious interior for congregational worship. Rich carpets cover the floor, providing designated rows for prayer facing Mecca. Although rebuilt and restored many times over the centuries, the mosque continues to serve as one of the most important centers of Islamic worship in the world.

Until the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000, non-Muslim visitors could generally enter both Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock outside of Muslim prayer times. When the Temple Mount reopened in 2003 after a three-year closure, access policies changed significantly. Today, only Muslims are permitted to enter these two sacred buildings. This photograph was taken through a window on the east side of the mosque.

Al Aksa Mosque

This view highlights the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount, where Herod’s immense retaining walls descend dramatically into the Kidron Valley. Beyond the walls stands Al-Aqsa Mosque, its silver-gray dome distinguishing it from the nearby Dome of the Rock. Many scholars identify this lofty corner with the “pinnacle of the temple” mentioned in Matt. 4:5 and Luke 4:9, where the Gospels record Satan tempting Jesus to cast Himself down. Although the exact location cannot be established with certainty, the extraordinary height of this corner overlooking the Kidron Valley closely matches the biblical description. The exposed masonry also illustrates the remarkable engineering that transformed the summit of Mount Moriah into a massive artificial platform capable of supporting the temple complex of Jesus’s day.

Jerusalem - Western Wall

The Western Wall is the most sacred place where Jews can gather for prayer. Although often called the “Wailing Wall,” that older name is rarely used today. The massive limestone blocks form part of the western retaining wall built by Herod the Great around 20–19 BC. to enlarge the Temple Mount and create the vast platform on which the Second Temple stood. The Temple itself did not stand on this wall but farther east atop the elevated platform.

When the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 70, the retaining walls largely survived, even though the Temple buildings above them were reduced to rubble. For centuries, Jewish pilgrims came here to mourn the loss of the Temple and pray for the restoration of Jerusalem. Today, worshipers continue the tradition by placing handwritten prayers into the cracks between the ancient stones.

The visible section of the Western Wall extends about 187 feet (57 m), but this is only a small portion of its original length. Much of the wall continues underground and through the Western Wall Tunnels, where visitors can see enormous Herodian stones, including one weighing hundreds of tons. Together, these remains provide one of the clearest surviving links to the Temple Mount and the world of Jesus during the Second Temple period.

Jerusalem - Western Wall

The prayer plaza occupies only a portion of the Western Wall. At the left, the wall continues northward, revealing the continuation of Herod’s immense retaining wall that once supported the Temple Mount above. Together, these stones formed the southwestern corner of the expanded platform built around 20–19 BC. Although the Temple itself stood atop the mount, these surviving walls testify to the extraordinary engineering that made Herod’s monumental reconstruction possible.

Jerusalem - Western Wall

The prayer hall occupies the area beneath Wilson’s Arch (back center), whose foundations date to Herod the Great’s expansion of the Temple Mount. The arch originally supported a monumental bridge leading from Jerusalem’s Upper City to the Temple complex. The vaulted chambers (top center) visible today were enclosed and expanded during later medieval and Ottoman periods, preserving the ancient structure while creating the prayer spaces used today.

Jerusalem - Western Wall

These worshipers are praying beside an extension of the Western Wall that lies beyond the open prayer plaza. Here the ancient stones continue north beneath later structures (see Western Wall Tunnels below), bringing visitors even closer to the foundations of the Temple Mount. The quiet atmosphere of these underground prayer rooms offers a more intimate setting for study and worship while preserving one of the longest surviving sections of Herod’s original retaining wall.

Jerusalem - Western Wall

This view looks across the entrance walkway toward the buildings overlooking the Western Wall plaza. The rooftops and upper terraces of these buildings provide some of the finest vantage points for photographing both the Western Wall and the southern portion of the Temple Mount. Many of the photographs in this gallery—including the previous image—were taken from these elevated locations, using a telephoto lens to capture details that cannot be appreciated from the crowded plaza below.

Jerusalem - Western Wall

The elevated wooden bridge provides the only entrance through which non-Muslim visitors may enter the Temple Mount. Beginning near the Western Wall plaza, the walkway passes through the Mughrabi Gate, one of the original gates in the western retaining wall. While Muslims may enter the mount through several gates, this carefully controlled route is reserved for tourists and other non-Muslim visitors under security regulations administered by Israeli authorities.

Access to the Temple Mount changed dramatically after Ariel Sharon’s visit on September 28, 2000, and the outbreak of the Second Intifada. Because of the ensuing violence, the compound was closed to non-Muslim visitors for approximately three years.

When the site reopened in 2003, Israeli authorities adopted a new security policy that remains in effect today. Non-Muslim visitors have since entered the Temple Mount only through the Mughrabi Gate and the elevated bridge from the Western Wall plaza. Before 2000, access was considerably less restricted, and all visitors could enter through today’s Muslim gates and visit both the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Jerusalem - Western Wall

The Western Wall prayer plaza is divided into separate sections for men and women in accordance with Orthodox Jewish tradition. The larger men's section occupies the left side of the plaza, while the women's section is located to the right, separated by a partition known as a mechitza. Although both sections provide direct access to the ancient stones of the Western Wall, the men's area is considerably larger to accommodate daily prayer services, Torah readings, and religious ceremonies.

Western Wall - Bar Mitzvah

A bar mitzvah marks the day a Jewish boy reaches the age of thirteen and is recognized as personally responsible for observing the commandments of the Torah. At the Western Wall, families often celebrate the occasion with prayers, music, and the public reading of a passage from the Torah. Because the men’s and women’s prayer areas are separate, female family members watch the ceremony from the women’s section while joining in the celebration from across the partition.

Jerusalem - Western Wall

A Jewish worshiper reads from a Hebrew prayer book while standing before the Western Wall. Small slips of paper tucked into the cracks between the ancient stones contain written prayers left by visitors from around the world. Each year, hundreds of thousands of prayer notes are placed in the wall’s crevices. They are periodically collected and buried on the Mount of Olives in keeping with Jewish custom, since they contain the written name of God and are regarded as sacred.

Jerusalem - Western Wall

This elderly Jewish worshiper studies the Scriptures while wearing tefillin (also called phylacteries) on his head and left arm. These small black leather boxes contain passages from Exodus 13:1–10, 11–16; Deuteronomy 6:4–9; and 11:13–21, including the Shema: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.” Their use reflects the commandment in Deuteronomy 6:8: “And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.” For observant Jews, tefillin serve as a daily reminder to love God and keep His commandments.

Western Wall Tunnels - Jerusalem

The entrance to the Western Wall Tunnels is located just west of the Western Wall prayer plaza. Unlike the open plaza, the tunnels may be visited only as part of a guided tour, and advance reservations are recommended. The tour follows the buried continuation of Herod’s western retaining wall beneath the Muslim Quarter, revealing portions of the Temple Mount that remained hidden for nearly two thousand years.

Western Wall Tunnels - Jerusalem

One of the highlights of the tour is this animated scale model of Herod’s Temple Mount. Through changing lights and moving displays, it illustrates how the platform and Temple complex appeared during different periods of Jerusalem’s history. The illuminated yellow dots mark the portion of Herod’s western retaining wall visible today in the Western Wall prayer plaza, helping visitors understand that only a small fraction of the original wall can be seen above ground.

The upper bridge represents Wilson’s Arch, named after British surveyor Charles Wilson, who identified its remains during his survey of Jerusalem in 1864. The arch carried a roadway from Jerusalem’s Upper City directly to the Temple Mount. Unlike Robinson’s Arch, much of Wilson's Arch survives and can still be seen today inside the Western Wall Tunnels. The enormous arch became incorporated into later structures and now forms part of the underground prayer area.

The lower bridge represents Robinson’s Arch, named after American biblical scholar Edward Robinson, who recognized its significance in 1838. It formed part of the monumental staircase and viaduct leading from the Tyropoeon Valley to the Royal Stoa at the southern end of the Temple Mount. The great springing stone of the arch still survives on the western retaining wall near the southwest corner of the Temple Mount, although the remainder of the arch collapsed during the Roman destruction of AD 70.

Western Wall Tunnels - Jerusalem

This vaulted chamber lies within the Wilson’s Arch complex, which supported the monumental bridge leading from Jerusalem’s Upper City to the Temple Mount. Visible in the previous model, the bridge crossed the Tyropoeon Valley before entering the Temple complex. Buried beneath later construction for centuries, these surviving vaults and passageways testify to the remarkable engineering that accompanied Herod’s expansion of the Temple Mount.

Western Wall Tunnels - Jerusalem

The Western Wall Tunnels expose some of the best-preserved sections of Herod’s original retaining wall. Many of these carefully dressed limestone blocks weigh dozens of tons, while the largest stones farther along the tunnel weigh several hundred tons. Their remarkable size and precision continue to inspire admiration more than two thousand years after they were set in place.

Western Wall Tunnels - Jerusalem

Protected from centuries of weathering, these Herodian stones preserve the finely drafted margins and smooth central faces characteristic of Herod’s master builders. The crisp masonry seen here is often easier to appreciate than on the exposed Western Wall above, where wind, rain, and human contact have softened many of the original tool marks over the centuries.

Western Wall Tunnels - Jerusalem

The Sha’arei Teshuva (“Gates of Repentance”) Synagogue is one of the newest stops along the Western Wall Tunnel tour. Completed in 2017, the underground synagogue stands beside the massive foundation stones of Herod’s western retaining wall, near one of the closest accessible points to the site traditionally associated with the Holy of Holies. Its distinctive spherical Torah Ark, fashioned from metal panels inscribed with Hebrew Scripture, symbolizes the central role of God’s word in Jewish worship.

Major Events at Jerusalem

Melchizedek, king of Salem, blesses Abraham — Gen. 14:18–20
David captures Jerusalem and makes it the capital of Israel — 2 Sam. 5:6–10
Solomon builds the First Temple (c. 957 BC) — 1 Kgs. 6–8
The Assyrian army fails to capture Jerusalem during Hezekiah’s reign (701 BC) — 2 Kgs. 18–19; Isa. 36–37
Babylon destroys Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple (586 BC) — 2 Kgs. 25; 2 Chron. 36:17–21
Jewish exiles return from Babylon and rebuild the Second Temple (dedicated 516 BC) — Ezra 1–6
Nehemiah rebuilds Jerusalem’s walls — Neh. 2–6
Herod the Great enlarges the Temple Mount and renovates the Second Temple (begun 20–19 BC)
Jesus is presented at the temple as an infant — Luke 2:22–38
At age twelve, Jesus teaches in the temple — Luke 2:41–52
Jesus cleanses the temple — Matt. 21:12–17; Mark 11:15–19; Luke 19:45–48; John 2:13–22)
Jesus teaches daily in the temple during His final week — Matt. 21–25; Mark 11–13; Luke 20–21
Jesus enters Jerusalem in triumph — Matt. 21:1–11; Mark 11:1–11; Luke 19:28–44; John 12:12–19
The Last Supper is observed in Jerusalem — Matt. 26:17–30; Mark 14:12–26; Luke 22:7–38
Jesus prays in Gethsemane and is arrested — Matt. 26:36–56; Mark 14:32–52; Luke 22:39–53; John 18:1–12
Jesus is tried, crucified, buried, and resurrected — Matt. 26–28; Mark 14–16; Luke 22–24; John 18–20
The Holy Spirit is poured out on the Day of Pentecost — Acts 2
Stephen becomes the first Christian martyr — Acts 6:8–7:60
The Jerusalem Council meets — Acts 15
Romans destroy Jerusalem and the Second Temple (AD 70)
Hadrian rebuilds Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina (AD 132–135)
Constantine builds the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (dedicated AD 335)
Muslims capture Jerusalem (AD 638)
The Dome of the Rock is completed (AD 691)
Crusaders capture Jerusalem (AD 1099)
Saladin recaptures Jerusalem (AD 1187)
Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilds Jerusalem’s city walls (AD 1537–1541)
Jerusalem comes under Israeli control during the Six-Day War (1967)

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