60 Fun Facts About Jerusalem

Jerusalem sits on a plateau in which mountain range, between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea?

The Old City stands about 760 metres above sea level; the ridge to its east includes the Mount of Olives and Mount Scopus.

Jerusalem is considered a holy city to which three religions?

Its Old City packs the Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre into less than one square kilometre.

By Wikipedia's tally, how many times has Jerusalem been captured and recaptured?

It has also been besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times and destroyed at least twice.

On 14th-century BCE Egyptian tablets the city is Urusalim, 'City of' which Canaanite deity?

Shalem was the god of dusk; his name shares the root S-L-M with the Hebrew word shalom, hence the popular gloss 'City of Peace'.

The dual ending of the Hebrew name Yerushalayim suggests the city sat on how many hills?

The name is mentioned 669 times in the Hebrew Bible, while Zion appears 154 times.

What is the most common Arabic name for Jerusalem, meaning 'the holy'?

It was originally titled Bayt al-Maqdis; the Hebrew nickname Ir ha-Qodesh has the same meaning.

According to the Hebrew Bible, which king captured Jerusalem from the Jebusites and made it his capital?

His son Solomon then commissioned the First Temple; the original settlement core is the rocky spur now called the City of David.

Which empire captured Jerusalem in 586 BCE and destroyed the First Temple?

Cyrus the Great of Persia let the exiles return after 539 BCE, and work on the Second Temple began around 516 BCE.

Which Roman general brought Jerusalem under the Republic's rule in 63 BCE?

Herod the Great later built the huge retaining walls that enlarged the sanctuary platform into one of the ancient world's largest.

The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in which year?

The First Jewish Revolt ended with the city's destruction; a few decades later Hadrian rebuilt it as a Roman colony dedicated to Jupiter.

After the Bar Kokhba revolt, the Romans renamed the city what?

The name honoured Emperor Hadrian and the gods of Rome, and Jews were banned from the city after the revolt was crushed.

Jerusalem was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate in which year, beginning the early Islamic period?

Under early Islamic rule the Dome of the Rock and the Qibli mosque were built on the sacred esplanade.

The Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099; who recaptured it for Islam in 1187?

The city then passed through Ayyubid and Mamluk hands until it became Ottoman in 1517.

The walls that still define the Old City were rebuilt in 1538 under which Ottoman sultan?

His wall had six gates; a seventh was cut in 1887, while the Golden Gate was walled up soon after being rebuilt.

The Old City is traditionally divided into four quarters: Muslim, Christian, Jewish and which other?

The division may go back to an 1840s British map; the Muslim Quarter is the largest and most populous of the four.

How large is the walled Old City of Jerusalem?

That is roughly three-eighths of a square mile; UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site in 1981 and it is on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Which of the Old City gates was added to Suleiman's wall in 1887, long after the others?

Suleiman's builders had left the Golden Gate open at first, then bricked it up; two minor gates were reopened by archaeologists in modern times.

The Western Wall is a retaining wall of which artificially expanded hilltop?

Its lower courses of huge stones are Herodian; the whole western retaining wall runs 488 metres, far beyond the famous prayer section.

By what short Hebrew name do Jews commonly refer to the Western Wall?

In the Islamic world it is the Buraq Wall; the term 'Wailing Wall' was mainly used by Christians.

How many courses of the Western Wall's prayer section lie buried below street level?

Just over half the wall's total height dates from the end of the Second Temple period and is believed to have been begun by Herod the Great.

The Dome of the Rock was built in 691–692 CE on the orders of which Umayyad caliph?

It is the oldest surviving work of Islamic architecture and carries the earliest inscriptions proclaiming Islam and the prophet Muhammad.

What is the basic shape of the Dome of the Rock's floor plan?

The plan may follow the Byzantine Church of the Seat of Mary on the Bethlehem road; the roof was gilded only in the 20th century.

The Dome of the Rock's distinctive gold-plated roof dates from what period?

The blue-and-white İznik-style tiles on the exterior are early Ottoman; the roof was gilded again in the 1990s.

In which year did Muhammad's Night Journey to Jerusalem take place, per Islamic tradition?

Jerusalem was also the first direction of Muslim prayer, and ranks as Islam's third-holiest city after Mecca and Medina.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is believed to contain the site of the crucifixion, known as Calvary or what?

It also holds the empty tomb, enclosed by a 19th-century shrine called the Aedicule.

Which Roman emperor supported the original 4th-century construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre?

Around 326 he ordered a pagan temple replaced by a church; it was consecrated on 13 September 335 and later destroyed by al-Hakim in 1009.

Since 1187 the key to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has been entrusted to which family?

The sultan gave the 30-centimetre iron key to the Joudehs, while the Nusseibehs act as doorkeepers; the arrangement is part of a 'Status Quo' dating to 1757.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the seat of the Greek Orthodox, Latin and which other patriarchate?

A famous 'immovable ladder' has stood beneath a facade window for centuries because no community may alter the shared status quo.

The Via Dolorosa is marked by how many Stations of the Cross?

Nine are in the streets and five inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; the current route dates only from the 18th century.

What does 'Via Dolorosa' mean in Latin?

The winding 600-metre route from the old Antonia Fortress partly follows a Roman east–west street laid out by Hadrian.

Roughly how many graves does the 3,000-year-old Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives hold?

The Garden of Gethsemane lies at its foot, and Acts describes it as the place from which Jesus ascended to heaven.

Which valley separates the Mount of Olives from the Old City?

The ridge on its far side holds a Jewish cemetery some 3,000 years old.

Which valley south of the Old City is associated in biblical eschatology with Gehenna, or Hell?

Three valleys meet just south of the Old City, where the Pool of Siloam lies.

The first settlement of Jerusalem, around 3000 BCE, grew up beside which water source?

The Bronze Age town on the hill above the spring was called Jebus in the Bible.

Under the 1947 UN Partition Plan, Jerusalem was to have what status?

Instead the 1949 armistice split it into Israeli-held West Jerusalem and Jordanian-held East Jerusalem until 1967.

From 1949 to 1967 East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was controlled by which country?

Israel captured it in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed it, a move not widely recognised internationally.

From 1923 to 1948 Jerusalem served as the administrative capital of what?

The Mandate authorities also built the old town hall the municipality used until 1993.

A law dating from the British Mandate requires every building in the city to be constructed of what?

The rule was meant to preserve the city's historic and aesthetic character.

Israel's parliament, located in Jerusalem, is called what?

The Supreme Court, the president's and prime minister's residences and every ministry except Defence and Agriculture are also in the city.

Yad Vashem, Israel's national Holocaust memorial, stands on the slope of which hill?

Established in 1953, its name means 'a memorial and a name'; Mount Herzl itself is Israel's national cemetery.

Which architect designed the new Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum that opened in 2005?

The complex is four times larger than the old one and includes the Hall of Names; the Avenue of the Righteous honours gentiles who saved Jews.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are housed in an urn-shaped building at the Israel Museum called what?

The museum opened in 1965 with the mayor of the day as its driving spirit and holds some 500,000 items, from a Suriname synagogue interior to a crucifixion nail.

Which mayor served Jerusalem for 28 years across six consecutive terms, the longest of any?

The mayor serves five-year terms and appoints eight deputies; council members work unpaid.

Which East Jerusalem museum was the first archaeological museum in the Middle East?

The Israel Museum, across town in Givat Ram, draws nearly a million visitors a year.

Which Jerusalem club had won Israel's top league six times by 2025, unlike rival Hapoel?

Beitar had won six championships by 2025 while Hapoel Jerusalem had none; both play at Teddy Stadium, opened in 1992 with a capacity of 31,733.

The Jerusalem Marathon starts at the parliament building and finishes where?

The 42-km course passes through Mount Scopus and the Old City; 15,000 runners took part in 2012.

What signals the Friday-afternoon closing of Mahane Yehuda market before the Sabbath?

'The Shuk' has more than 250 vendors and has lately become a nightlife hub of bars and live music.

In which year was the Hebrew University of Jerusalem founded?

It has campuses on Mount Scopus, at Givat Ram and at Hadassah Ein Kerem, and counts Nobel laureates such as Daniel Kahneman among its alumni.

The Jerusalem Light Rail began carrying passengers in which year?

Near the city entrance the cable-stayed Chords Bridge marks the start of the line by the Central Bus Station.

Roughly how much snow fell on Jerusalem on 13 December 2013, nearly paralysing the city?

Heavy snow arrives only every three or four years on average, though flurries are seen most winters.

In 2020, Jews made up roughly what share of Jerusalem's population?

Muslims made up 37.2 percent and Christians 1.7 percent; the city passed one million residents in 2024.

Which ruler built the supporting walls that enlarged the Temple Mount and expanded the Second Temple?

The expansion made it one of the largest sanctuaries in the ancient world.

In which year did Jerusalem become part of the Ottoman Empire?

Ottoman rule followed the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods and lasted until the British arrived in 1917.

In which war did Israel capture East Jerusalem, uniting the city under its control?

The city had been divided between Israel and Jordan since the 1948 war.

In which year did Israel pass the Jerusalem Law declaring the city its 'complete and united' capital?

The Basic Law was condemned by an international community that did not recognise Jerusalem as the capital.

How many other Security Council members backed the 2017 resolution the US vetoed on Jerusalem?

The US vetoed it on 18 December 2017; a similar resolution then passed in the General Assembly.

Roughly how high above sea level is Jerusalem's Old City?

The city sits on the southern spur of a plateau in the Judaean Mountains.

Which former airport, the first built in Mandatory Palestine, ceased operating in 2000?

Also called Jerusalem International Airport, it shut amid second-intifada violence; Ben Gurion now serves the city.

How deep underground is the Jerusalem terminus of the high-speed rail line from Tel Aviv?

The line became partially operational in 2018 and was completed in 2019.

Which two famous intellectuals sat on the Hebrew University's Board of Governors?

Its library, opened in 1892, predates the university itself by more than three decades.