Jerusalem (Yerushalayim, Al Quds) city (state capital), education and culture - - Pictures
Jerusalem is one of Israel's centers of learning. The Hebrew University on Mount Scopus was founded in 1925. Mount Scopus, also the site of Hadassah Hospital, remained a Jewish enclave after Jerusalem was divided in 1949. Since Jews were allowed only limited access to the area, they relocated the facilities at Givat Ram in West Jerusalem. After the Jordanian sector was recaptured in 1967, the Mount Scopus campus was rededicated and became the site of newly designed extensions of the existing hospital and university. Another notable institute of learning is the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design (founded in 1906).
Jerusalem contains an enormous number of points of historical and aesthetic interest. Most of these places reflect the connection between religion and political control that has shaped Jerusalem's history. Located in the Old City, the centerpiece of this history is the Temple Mount, which Muslims call Haram esh-Sharif, or the Venerable Sanctuary. It was here that King Solomon established the site of the First Temple of Israel in the 10th century BC. The temple was built on a platform surrounding the hilltop where tradition holds that Abraham nearly sacrificed his son Isaac, as recounted in the Old Testament of the Bible. The holiest site in Judaism, the Western Wall, also called the Wailing Wall, is the retaining wall built by Herod the Great to support the Temple Mount. Jews traditionally visit the wall to lament the destruction of the First and Second Temples and to offer prayers, written on pieces of paper placed in chinks in the wall. The name “Wailing Wall” refers to the sounds of mourning made by devout visitors. With the advent of Islam, the area became holy to Muslims as well, because Muhammad was reported to have come to the Temple Mount and ascended to heaven from the point of Isaac's near sacrifice. The Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque, both located on the Temple Mount, constitute Islam's third holiest site, after Mecca and Medina.
