Jerusalem

Jerusalem is an ancient city in the Middle East. It sits on a group of hills between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea, in the country of Israel. The city is more than 3,000 years old, which means people were living there long before ancient Rome was founded. Today about one million people call Jerusalem home.

Jerusalem is holy to three of the world's major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. For Jews, it is the site of the ancient Temple, first built by King Solomon around 950 BCE. The Temple was destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again. All that remains is a stone wall called the Western Wall, where Jews come to pray. For Christians, Jerusalem is where Jesus was crucified and, they believe, rose from the dead. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre marks the spot. For Muslims, Jerusalem is the city where the Prophet Muhammad is said to have traveled to heaven. The Dome of the Rock, a golden-topped shrine built in 691 CE, sits on that spot.

All three holy sites are packed into a small area called the Old City. The Old City is only about one-third of a square mile, smaller than many American shopping malls. A thick stone wall, built by the Ottoman Empire in the 1500s, surrounds it. Inside, narrow streets wind past markets, churches, mosques, and synagogues.

Because so many people have wanted to control Jerusalem, the city has changed hands many times. Kings David and Solomon ruled it. Then came the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks under Alexander the Great, and the Romans. During the Middle Ages, Christian armies from Europe and Muslim armies from the Middle East fought over it in the wars called the Crusades. The Ottoman Empire ruled Jerusalem for 400 years, until World War I.

In 1948, the modern country of Israel was created, and war broke out almost immediately. The city was split in two. Israel controlled the western half, and Jordan controlled the eastern half, including the Old City. In 1967, Israel captured the eastern half in another war. Today Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Most countries have not taken a side, and the question of who should control Jerusalem is one of the hardest problems in the world.

Visitors still come from every continent. They pray at the Western Wall, walk the route Jesus is said to have taken, and stand beneath the gold dome. Few cities on Earth mean so much to so many people.