Mount Zion

Mount Zion is the hill just outside the south-western wall of Jerusalem's Old City, a place layered with meaning for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. The name has shifted across the centuries, once denoting the Temple Mount itself, but today it refers to this ridge beyond the Zion Gate, crowded with shrines, tombs and religious houses.

Several revered sites share its summit. The complex traditionally identified as the Tomb of King David draws Jewish pilgrims to pray, while directly above it the Room of the Last Supper, or Cenacle, a bare Gothic hall, is venerated by Christians as the site of Jesus's final meal with his disciples. That two of the faiths' holy places sit within the same medieval building is a striking overlap under one roof.

The hill's skyline is marked by the Dormition Abbey, a Benedictine church with a distinctive conical roof and rounded bell tower, built where Catholic tradition holds the Virgin Mary fell into her eternal sleep. Nearby lie old Christian cemeteries, a chamber memorialising the Holocaust and the remains of ancient walls, giving the whole ridge a solemn, contemplative and slightly melancholy air.

For visitors, Mount Zion is an easy and evocative extension of the Old City. It is reached on foot through the Zion Gate, only a few minutes from the Jewish and Armenian quarters, and most of its sites are free to enter. Dress modestly for the shrines, expect stairs and uneven ground throughout, and pause at the viewpoints looking back toward the floodlit Old City walls or south across the Hinnom Valley toward the modern city beyond. The short walk along the outside of the Old City walls from the Jaffa Gate makes an atmospheric approach at dusk.