Craig and Suzanne Kuehn
Our Family and Travels
On the l. is an excavation site in the Old City that goes down 4,000 years to a Canaanite settlement. A mosaic was discovered depicting the layout of the Roman city built over the ruins of Jerusalem in the 2nd century, Aelia Captolina. From the Old City looking out of the west gate.
During one of our free time days, small groups of us went to the Holocaust Museum (no photos allowed inside). We went there and then back to the Old City via Jerusalem's light rail.
In roughly 2003, construction was necessary to keep the dome from collapsing. During construction in the west wall, two tombs were uncovered dated to the 1st century AD. This column does not match other columns in the church. It is believed that the column was taken from the ruins of the temple and recycled in the church. The last photo understates the enormity of the church.
There is typically a long line to get in the tomb. Surrounding tombs were removed during church construction. The church has many chapels. The largest is likely the Orthodox chapel. The dome over the tomb.
The Chapel of the Nailing. The crucifixion site. The stone where Jesus' body was laid before burial. When the church was first built, the Golgotha site was leveled so the church could be level, except for the outcropping where the cross was put in the ground. A staircase goes up to the crucifixion site.
Many of the stations are marked in the walls along the street like this 4th station. The last four stations are in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The photo on the r. is of the entrance to the church.
We next walked the Via Dolorosa, the way of tears, the route Jesus took from Pilate to his execution site. There were other pilgrims also walking the way of the cross. The Via Dolorosa has merchants on it like the other streets in the Old City.
(l. to r.) The Western (Wailing) Wall of Herod's temple mount. The partition on the right separates the men from the women. This isn't us, but we did sing with members of our group in the Church of St. Anne because of its acoustics. The ruins of Bethesda thought to have healing properties in Jesus' time, later converted to Roman baths in the Roman city built on the Jerusaiem site.
Holy Land 2013
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