Holy Jewish Places:-

The Western Wall. 

History.

According to the Hebrew Bible,Solomon’s temple was built atop what is know as the temple Mount in the 10th century BCE and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE,and the Second Temple completed and dedicated in 516 BCE. Around 19 BCE Herod the great began a massive expansion project on the temple Mount.In addition to fully rebuilding and enlarging the Temple,he artificially expanded the platform on which it stood,doubling it in size.Today’s Western Wall Formed part of the retaining perimeter wall of this platform.

Location.

The Western Wall commonly refers to a 187-foot (57 m)exposed section of ancient wall situated on the western flank of the Temple mount.This section faces a large plaza and is set aside for prayer.

Area.

1-the above-ground portion of the Western Wall stretches for 1,600 feet (488 m),most of which is hidden behind residential structures built along its length.

2-other revealed sections include the southern part of the Wall which measures approximately 80 metres (262 ft) and another much.

3-another shorter section known as the little Western Wall which is located close to the Iron Gate.

Reason of construction.

Herod’s project was to create an artificial extension to the small quasi-natural plateau on which the First and Second Temples stood,transforming it into the almost rectangular,wide expanse of the Temple Mount visible today.

Length.

At the Western Wall Plaza, the total height of the Wall from its foundation is estimated at 150 feet (32 m),with the exposed section standing approximately 62 feet (19 m) high. The Wall consists of 45 stone courses,28 of them above ground and 17 underground.

Date.

The first seven visible layers are from the Herodian period.

Architecture.

This section of wall is built from enormous meleke limestone blocks possibly quarried at either Zedekiah’s Cave situated under the Muslim Quarter of the Old City or at Ramat Shlomo 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) northwest of the Old City.

History of the Ottoman era.

In the late 16th century,Suleiman ordered the construction of an imposing fortress wall to be built around the entire city,which still stands today.At the time,Jews received official permission to worship at the site and Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan built an oratory for them there.In 1625 organised prayers at the Wall are mentioned for the first time.

Holy Islamic Places: –
1 -The Red Minaret Mosque.

History and  Location.

The Red Minaret Mosque is located in As-Saadiya neighbourhood at the intersection of Al-Bastami and Ash-Shaddad alleys, adjacent to the tomb of Sheikh Rihan. It can be reached through Herod’s Gate or Via Dolorosa. The mosque was established by Sheikh Alaa Eddin Al-Khalwati before 1533 AD. It is regarded as one of the first Ottoman monuments in Jerusalem. It is called the Red Minaret due to the color of the stone used in building it.

Mosque of omar.

History and  Location

The current (southern) Mosque of Omar

The current Mosque of Omar, which is at a totally different site than the one where Caliph Omar has allegedly prayed and where the earlier mosque was located, since it stands to the south of the church rather than to the east of it, was built in its current shape by the Ayyubid Sultan Al-Afdal ibn Salah ad-Din in 1193 in memory of this event. This new position is likely due to the fact that the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre had by then moved from the east to the south of the church, as a result of repeated destructive events that affected the Holy Sepulchre during the 11th and 12th centuries.

The Ayyubid mosque has a 15 metres (49 ft) high minaret that was built sometime before 1465 during the Mamluk period, maybe after the 1458 earthquake, and was renovated by Ottoman sultan Abdulmecid I (1839–1860).

Al – Buraq mosque

History and Location

The al-Buraq mosque is a mosque located in the Haram al-Sharif in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is in the passage that once led to Barclay’s Gate, which is at the south end of the Western Wall and has been sealed for many centuries. This small structure, on the south-west corner of the Al-Aqsa compound is believed to be the place where Muhammad tied the Buraq, the winged riding animal upon which he rode during the Night of Ascension, and an iron ring attached to the wall is shown to visitors as the exact place.

The mosque was described by Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi in 1689.

Mosque of Okasha

History

The mosque was built in the 19th century beside the 12th-century tomb of Nebi Akasha Bin Mohsin, one of the disciples of the Prophet Muhammad.According to Islamic tradition, Saladin‘s soldiers were buried at the site. Additions were made to the tomb by the Mamluks in the 13th-century.There is also a tradition that Moses, Jesus and Muhammad were buried here, leading the British High Commissioner John Chancellor to name the nearby street Street of the Prophets.

20th century

On August 26, 1929, during the 1929 Palestine riots, the mosque was attacked by a group of Jews in response to Arab massacres.The mosque was badly damaged and the tombs were desecrated.As a result of the Palestinian Arab exodus from western Jerusalem during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the mosque was abandoned. Today it is located in the middle of a park in a Haredi Jewish neighborhood. It is situated near the junction of Straus Street and the Street of the Prophets.

In December 2011 the mosque was defaced with graffiti by right-wing extremists who tried to set fire to it in a price tag attack.The mosque is inactive and the Jerusalem Municipality uses it as a warehouse.