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If you wish to know learn how to go to the Dome of the Rock and Temple Mount in Jerusalem, right here’s a journey information with all the guidelines you want.
The way to Go to the Dome of the Rock and Temple Mount
The road-up was lengthy, the solar was intense and my vacation spot was the gold dome in Jerusalem, the shining beacon of Temple Mount.
Temple Mount, or Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) in Arabic, is among the world’s most sacred non secular websites and a strong addition to any Israel itinerary.
Revered by Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike, it’s a spot of profound historic and cultural significance with a spectacular setting overlooking the Outdated Metropolis of Jerusalem.
Contained in the Temple Mount complicated is the Dome of the Rock with its dazzling gold roof, and I used to be lastly going to go to.
It wasn’t my first try.
What You Have to Know About Visiting Temple Mount
Between gown codes, restricted opening hours, tight safety, and varied guidelines and restrictions, Temple Mount will not be the only place to go to.
It’s value it. Dripping with historical past, laced with religion, and enhanced with treasured structure, it’s one of many blockbuster sights of Jerusalem.
It may be performed simply as soon as you understand how.
Temple Mount Journey Information
So let me let you know what I discovered. This information to visiting Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock is stuffed with tips about what to see, learn how to get there, and what guidelines you’ll want to observe.
If there are not any surprising closures (which occurs) you’ll haven’t any drawback visiting Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock for your self.
🌿 Journey Tip: There is no such thing as a entrance payment for Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock.
See? Haven’t I impressed you to tour it already?
On the lookout for a guided tour? You may go to the Dome of the Rock and Temple Mount on this Half-Day Guided Stroll of the Outdated Metropolis.
Why Is It Onerous to Go to Temple Mount?
Temple Mount is an especially sacred web site so there are rules set in place to make sure it’s revered.
As a result of Temple Mount is so revered, it’s additionally a flashpoint for political and non secular tensions.
It will possibly shut down at a second’s discover, and a ladies’s protest was the rationale I couldn’t return in 2015.
Typically, nonetheless, the longer you look forward to issues, the extra you admire them, and that was the case for me.
On the lookout for a tour of Jerusalem from Tel Aviv that features Temple Mount? This full-day tour contains the highest sights within the Outdated Metropolis. Test it out right here.
Entry for Guests is By way of the Moroccan Gate
My pleasure was constructing as I shuffled forward in an extended line on the Moroccan Gate.
🌿 Journey Tip: The Moroccan Gate (Mughrabi Gate), is the one entrance non-Muslims can use to realize entry to Temple Mount.
To seek out it, search for an elevated picket walkway by the Western Wall. Head up that and also you’ll finally arrive on the safety verify for the doorway.
🌿 Journey Tip: The Dung Gate into the Outdated Metropolis of Jerusalem is the closest gate to Temple Mount. You may as well get there from the Lion’s Gate or the Chain Gate.
Costume Code for Temple Mount
I’d heard that when visiting Temple Mount ladies ought to cowl their shoulders, elbows, legs, and head, so I’d dressed rigorously.
Skirt beneath my knees, a scarf to throw over my hair, and a prime that coated my shoulders.
There are additionally different do’s and don’t’s concerning entry.
Don’t carry in any Christian or Jewish non secular materials: no pamphlets, prayer books, Bibles or massive silver crosses.
I hadn’t deliberate to hold in forbidden gadgets, however I rifled by my bag in case one thing had mysteriously fallen in.
All was good. I used to be set for my go to to the well-known Dome of the Rock and its glittering gold dome of Jerusalem.
Or was I?
Not fairly.
Getting into Temple Mount
After I went by the airport-style steel detectors, a safety guard motioned me over to a desk filled with clothes.
Massive ugly clothes. My calf-length skirt wasn’t lengthy sufficient.
I pulled on a voluminous skirt with a yellow racing stripe down the facet, tried not to consider how many individuals had worn it earlier than me, and was waved forward.
🌿 Journey Tip: There is no such thing as a cost for the rented clothes.
Surprisingly, I didn’t have to cowl my head, so I wrapped my Hermes scarf round my shoulders and waddled in.
As I regarded round, I took nice pleasure in seeing numerous male vacationers carrying the identical cumbersome skirts. Clearly they’d failed the ‘naked legs’ check, too.
🌿 Journey Tip: Cropped pants aren’t okay, not less than they weren’t after I was there. You’ll get the ‘massive skirt’ therapy regardless of your gender.
Who Runs Temple Mount and Units the Guidelines?
It’s difficult. The Islamic Waqf, established by Saladin in 1187, is a Jordanian non secular belief that administers the location. The Palestinian Authority additionally has a job within the administration.
Israel is answerable for safety.
🌿 Journey Tip: Safety is tight. Don’t be alarmed for those who see a whole lot of armed guards.
What’s Temple Mount?
Temple Mount is a 37-acre elevated pavilion paved with stone slabs within the coronary heart of Outdated Jerusalem.
Like Caesarea, the Mount of Beatitudes and different websites from antiquity, it accommodates highly effective remnants of the previous, but it’s as alive right this moment because it was 1000’s of years in the past.
The very first thing which may shock you is the dimensions and serenity of the complicated. It’s a world other than the labyrinthine lanes of the Outdated Metropolis.
Positioned at Outdated Jerusalem’s highest level, the complicated has numerous buildings and areas to discover.
Two must-see sights are the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Why Is Temple Mount So Well-known?
There are a number of the explanation why Temple Mount is honored. Structure, historical past, location … however it primarily comes right down to faith.
An Vital Website for Muslims
In Islam, the Al-Aqsa Mosque at Temple Mount is the third holiest web site after Mecca and Medina.
Why? In line with Islamic custom, the Prophet Muhammad transcended to Heaven from the location of the Dome of the Rock after being transported from Mecca by the Angel Gabriel.
It’s the Holiest Website within the World in Judaism
Why? The Temple Mount is believed to be the place the First and Second Temples as soon as stood.
Solomon’s Temple was the First Temple and was destroyed by the Babylonians.
The Second Temple was constructed by King Herod in 20 BCE, however razed by the Romans in 70 BCE.
For Christians
In Christianity, Temple Mount is necessary for its biblical ties and non secular roots, although different sights in Jerusalem just like the Church of the Holy Sepulchre carry extra weight.
In line with some accounts it’s the place Jesus overturned the tables of the cash changers and retailers within the “Cleaning of the Temple.”
The way to Go to the Dome of the Rock
Like bees to honey, most vacationers flip left and head straight to the Dome of the Rock. It’s an ideal place to start out your tour.
A shocking Islamic shrine, it’s essentially the most recognizable landmark at Temple Mount, not least due to its large gold dome that may be seen from everywhere in the metropolis.
The Gold Dome in Jerusalem
Sixty-five toes (20 metres) in diameter, the gleaming gold dome sits on a supporting drum of good blue-hued tiles.
For me, it was an astonishing sight, as if the solar and sky had been condensed down to 1 vivid celestial imaginative and prescient.
I’d seen the gold dome of Jerusalem shimmering at sundown. I’d seen it reflecting gentle in the course of the day. However all the time from a distance so it by no means appeared actual.
Now it was in entrance of me, like a mirage come to life.
There may be a lot historical past right here, a lot non secular would possibly, however I couldn’t get previous the gold.
How might there be a lot? Gold is heavy. Why hasn’t the dome collapsed? How do they maintain it from being stolen?
Is the Dome of the Rock Pure Gold?
I discovered that the dome’s 1000’s of plates usually are not stable gold. They’re, nonetheless, completed with pure gold leaf.
Additionally, the dome you see in Jerusalem right this moment will not be the unique.
The challenge to revive the dome was funded by the late King Hussein of Jordan in 1959 at a price of greater than 7 million {dollars}.
The gold itself is value about 1.4 million.
That’s nonetheless a whole lot of gold.
Why is the Dome of the Rock So Well-known?
It’s not simply the gold that makes the Dome of the Rock glitter.
A powerful instance of Islamic structure, it’s, in actual fact, one of many oldest surviving Islamic buildings in existence.
It was in-built 691 by the Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, probably to outshine the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Islam was nonetheless a fledgling faith, established about 610, so why not construct an impressive image to signify it?
Byzantine in model, the Dome of the Rock is an octagon that glimmers with intricate tiles of blue, inexperienced and gold; marble columns and naturally, that dazzling gold dome.
As soon as I’d gotten over the visible slam of the shrine’s magnificence, I might concentrate on the true core of its energy.
As a result of the true significance of the Dome of the Rock lies beneath.
Contained in the Dome of the Rock
What’s the ‘rock’ underneath the Dome of the Rock?
Often known as the Basis Stone, it’s a big, tough however flat-ish rock that sits on the centre of the shrine.
A part of the bedrock beneath, the Basis Stone has been hacked at by crusaders, revered by 1000’s and worn easy in locations by the contact of numerous palms.
A spot at its southern facet leads right down to a cave often called the Properly of Souls the place, it’s mentioned, you may hear the voices of the lifeless awaiting Judgement Day.
The Significance of the Basis Stone in Judaism
In line with Jewish custom, it’s the spot the place the Ark of the Covenant was positioned when the First and Second Temples stood right here.
Some consider it’s the place creation started and the place Abraham was poised to sacrifice Isaac. (There may be debate about this.)
The Basis Stone in Islam
For Muslims, the Basis Stone is believed to be the spot from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.
Crusaders on the Dome of the Rock
Right here’s a shock: The location of the Dome of the Rock was briefly a Christian church after the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099.
That solely lasted till 1187 when town was recaptured by the Muslim chief Saladin.
Can Non-Muslim Guests Enter the Dome of the Rock?
No. They’re free to admire the skin however can solely think about the inside, richly ornamented with pillars, columns, mosaics and Islamic inscriptions.
Visiting the Dome of the Chain
When you’ve circled the Dome of the Rock and gotten your fill of blazing gold, try the smaller domed construction subsequent to it.
Named the Dome of the Chain, its delicate allure and detailed tile work received me over instantly.
Constructed across the identical time because the Dome of the Rock, it’s an open air construction supported by columns (and one of many few locations you’ll discover shade.)
Below the Dome
Whereas non-Muslims can solely admire the golden Dome of the Rock from the skin, it’s potential to step contained in the Dome of the Chain.
Right here you may see placing glazed tiles, the frilly ceiling and patterned flooring.
The Goal of the Dome of the Chain
Questions linger over its goal. A gathering place for students? A treasury? A prototype for the Dome of the Rock? The thriller stays.
🌿 Throughout the crusader period the Dome of the Chain was used as a Christian chapel as they’d recognized it because the place the place St. James was martyred.
Seeing Al-Aqsa Mosque
We’re not performed with domes but.
One other powerfully sacred web site on the Temple Mount complicated is Al-Aqsa Mosque, additionally known as the Qibli Mosque.
You may acknowledge it by its ribbed lead dome that appears like burnished silver.
This huge complicated of courtyards, domes, and minarets has gone by a lot destruction, resurrection and enlargement its exhausting to maintain all of it straight.
Earthquakes, assaults, occupations (the crusaders used it as a palace), arson … Al-Aqsa Mosque has seen all of it.
With a capability to carry 5,500 worshippers, it’s an lively mosque and an necessary image of Islam.
Can non-Muslims go inside Al-Aqsa Mosque? No.
Visiting the Western Wall – Is It A part of Temple Mount?
The Western Wall is the final remnant of the Second Temple.
It’s the place many Jewish folks pray as, per Israeli rules, they’re not allowed to hope at Temple Mount.
(The foundations could also be bending on that, inflicting a substantial amount of controversy.)
For the reason that Western Wall, or Wailing Wall, will not be contained in the Temple Mount compound you do not want to undergo the lineup to go to it.
Temple Mount Opening Hours
Temple Mount is open to non-Muslim guests from Sunday to Thursday, apart from sure Muslim and Jewish holidays.
It will possibly additionally shut down out of the blue for varied different causes like political points.
Summer time Hours: 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Winter Hours: 7:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
To keep away from lengthy strains, going proper at opening time is a good suggestion.
The way to Go to Temple Mount: Suggestions and Guidelines
Visiting Temple Mount in Jerusalem is topic to sure guidelines and rules.
Listed below are some common pointers and suggestions:
- Costume modestly, with no shorts or revealing clothes. I didn’t have to cowl my head, however I recommend you are taking one thing simply in case.
- Carry your passport: It might or is probably not wanted, however have it with you.
- Non-Muslim guests usually are not allowed to hope or conduct any non secular rituals on the Mount.
- Don’t usher in Jewish or Christian non secular materials or objects.
- Keep away from public shows of affection.
- Pictures is allowed outdoors. Greatest to not {photograph} the guards.
- Be respectful and conscious of the non secular significance of the location.
- Get in line early: You received’t get in previous closing time regardless of how lengthy you waited in line.
- Take a look at this interactive map for tips about what to see.
Why Go to Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock?
Exploring Temple Mount is a mind-bending journey into the center of Jerusalem’s historical past, faith and tradition.
Why Obsess Over the Domes?
Granted, not everybody might be as fixated on the domes of Temple Mount as I’m, however they are significant.
The curved domes of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock are unforgettable, not only for their formidable magnificence however for his or her symbolic heft of devotion and religion.
In non secular structure, domes are a hyperlink between the earthly and the divine.
Their round form represents unity and inclusivity – a robust motif at a web site that has been fought over for hundreds of years.
Realizing learn how to go to Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock isn’t nearly guidelines, instructions and details.
It’s about it’s about immersing your self within the spirit of a lightening-rod spot the place numerous cultures meet and the load of historical past (and domes!) is wealthy with the echoes of religion.
FAQs About Visiting the Dome of the Rock
There are about 15 domes at Temple Mount altogether. Probably the most well-known is the gleaming gold dome on the Dome of the Rock.
Whereas there are some guidelines and rules concerning visiting the Dome of the Rock at Temple Mount, it’s definitely potential to go to this beautiful sacred web site in Jerusalem.
No, it’s thought-about extra of a shrine.
