We wish to thank Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for some of the information on our web pages. We share images and information with Wikipedia. We also donate to Wikipedia, & would suggest that others do the same. The Christian Quarter (Hebrew - Ha'Rova Ha'Notzr�, Arabic - Harat al-Nasar�) is one of the four quarters of the ancient, walled Old City of Jerusalem, the other three being the Jewish Quarter, the Muslim Quarter and the Armenian Quarter. The Christian Quarter is situated in the northwestern corner of the Old City, extending from the New Gate in the north, along the western wall of the Old City as far as the Jaffa Gate, along the Jaffa Gate - Western Wall route in the south, bordering on the Jewish and Armenian Quarters, as far as the Damascus Gate in the east, where it borders on the Muslim Quarter. The Christian quarter contains about 40 Christian holy places. Among them is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of Christianity's holiest places. The Christian Quarter was built around the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is the heart of the quarter. Around the church there are other churches and monasteries. Generally speaking, the Christian Quarter contains very few houses, and they are concentrated in the southern-eastern part of the quarter near the Jericho Gate. The Christian quarter contains buildings which are of religious, or of educational interest to tourists, such as the Lutheran school and St. Pierre school. The Christian Quarter also contains souvenir shops, coffee houses, restaurants and hotels. The shops are mostly concentrated in the market street, David Street, and along the Christian Road. Some of the hotels (such as the Casa Nova hotel and the Greek Catholic hotel) were built by the churches as places for visitors to stay. Others are private hotels. The Christian Quarter also contains some small museums (such as the museum of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate). In the southwest part of the quarter there is a pool called Hezkiyahu's Pool that was used to store rain water for the area. During the 19th century, European countries aimed to expand their influence in Jerusalem and so began constructing several structures in the Christian quarter. The Ottoman authorities attempted to halt European influence and established rules for buying land in the area. But personal interventions from the heads of those countries (such as Wilhelm II of Germany and Franz Joseph of Austria) led to construction of some buildings for those countries' religious authorities. At the end of the 19th century, there were no further free lands for development in the Christian Quarter. In the same period, the Suez Canal had just opened and many Christians travelled to the Holy Land. This led to intensified competition between the European powers for presentation and influence in Jerusalem. France built hospitals, a monastery, and hostels for visitors outside the Old City adjacent to the Christian quarter - an area which became known as the French area. Even before them, the Russians located themselves in the nearby Russian Compound. There was a natural desire for easy travel between the Christian Quarter and the new development, but at the time the Old City walls formed a barrier and travelers were forced to take an indirect path through either Jaffa Gate or Nablus Gate. In 1898, the Ottomans accepted the request of the European countries and breached a new gate in the Old City walls, in the area of the new development. The gate was called "The New Gate". Some of the landmarks in the Christian Quarter are: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre/Church of the Resurrection, the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, the Church of John the Baptist, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the Church of the Savior, the Greek Monastery, the Deir El-Sultan, the San Salvatore Monastery, the Mosque of Omar, the El-Khanka Mosque, & the Muristan Market. Probably the most visited is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also called the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, or the Church of the Resurrection by Eastern Christians, is a church within the Christian Quarter of the walled Old City of Jerusalem. It is a few steps away from the Muristan. The site is venerated as Golgotha (the Hill of Calvary), where Jesus was crucified, and is said also to contain the place where Jesus was buried (the Sepulchre). The church has been a paramount � and for many Christians the most important � pilgrimage destination since at least the 4th century, as the purported site of the resurrection of Jesus. Today it also serves as the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, while control of the building is shared between several Christian churches and secular entities in complicated arrangements essentially unchanged for centuries. Today, the church is home to branches of Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy as well as to Roman Catholicism. Christ Church is the oldest Protestant Church in the Middle East. It was completed in Jerusalem in 1849 and soon after became known as the "Jewish Protestant Church." Its congregation is primarily English seeking Jewish Christians. After entering the Old City, you will hink that you are standing next to a lamppost, but take a closer look at the pillar that is holding up the lamp. It is the Pillar Of The 10th Legion. There is Latin writing engraved upon it. This pillar marks the place which was the headquarters for the Roman governor of Judea, �Marcus Iunius Maximus. He was the Legate of the Tenth Legion of the Sea Straits.� The infamous Tenth Legion, previously led by Octavian Augustus which defeated both Sextus Pompei and Mark Anthony. It also participated in the siege of Jerusalem, and its destruction in the year 70 CE, first under the command of Vespasian and later his son, Titus. The Mosque of Omar in Old Jerusalem is located opposite the southern courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Muristan. After the Siege of Jerusalem in 637 by the Rashidun army under the command of Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, Patriarch Sophronius refused to surrender except to the Caliph Omar (579-644) himself. Omar traveled to Jerusalem and accepted the surrender. He then visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where Sophronius invited him to pray inside the Church, but Omar declined so as not to set a precedent and thereby endanger the Church's status as a Christian site. Instead he prayed outside in the courtyard, in a place where David was believed to have prayed. The Mosque of Omar was built in its current shape by the Ayyubid Sultan Al-Afdal ibn Salah ad-Din in 1193 in memory of this event. It has a 15 metres (49 ft) high minaret that was built before 1465 and was renovated by Ottoman sultan Abdulmecid I (1839�1860). The Church of Saint Alexander Nevsky, Or Russian Church was started when, in 1859, the Russian government acquired a plot of land next to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Then excavations on the site revealed a series of amazing discoveries, the most incredible of all: a stone threshold that was worn away and polished, and had holes for the hinges of a gate. The Threshold of Judgment Gate is considered to be the edges of the old city walls during the time of Jesus. Not far from the Threshold of Judgment Gate, an altar was discovered. After those discoveries, in the end of the 19th century, the Church of Saint Alexander Nevsky, Or Russian Church was erected and dedicated to the Emperor Alexander III and his patron saint, Saint Alexander Nevsky. The Emperor was responsible for introducing Russian Orthodoxy to the Holy Land in the 19th century, what is still referred to as the Palestine Orthodox Society. Another special area inOld Jerusalem is the Muristan (from Persian Bimarestan meaning "Hospital"). The Muristan is a complex of streets and shops in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The Muristan was the location of the first hospital of the Knights Hospitaller. The Muristan is just south of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, & it has a long tradition dating back to the days of Yehuda haMaccabi (2nd century BC) based on incidents recorded in the Second Book of Maccabees. According to the legend, King Antiochus V proceeded to Jerusalem to punish the High Priest for plundering David's Tomb. While on Golgotha, the king was directed in a divine vision to pardon the High Priest, and to build a hospital for the care of the sick and poor on that spot. In 1496, William Caoursin, Vice-Chancellor of the Hospitallers, wrote that Judas Maccabaeus and John Hyrcanus founded the hospital on that spot. The Saint John the Baptist Church in Ein Kerem is a Catholic monastery and church built above the cave believed to be where the John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus Christ, was born. St. John the Baptist Church was built over Byzantine and Crusaders chapels which existed there before. The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer is the second Protestant church in Jerusalem (the first being Christ Church near Jaffa Gate). It is a property of the Evangelical Jerusalem Foundation, one of the three foundations of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) in the Holy Land. Built between 1893 and 1898 by the architect Paul Ferdinand Groth following the designs of Friedrich Adler, the Church of the Redeemer currently houses Lutheran congregations that worship in Arabic, German, Danish, and English. It was built on land given to King William I of Prussia (after 1870 Kaiser Wilhelm I) in 1869 by Sultan Abd�laziz of the Ottoman Empire, the church was constructed from 1892-1898. The location had been the site of the old church of St. Mary Minor The Tower of David (Hebrew; Migdal David), is an ancient citadel located near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem. The Tower of David was built to strengthen a strategically weak point in the Old City's defenses, the citadel that stands today has ancient foundations and it was constructed during the 2nd century BC and subsequently destroyed and rebuilt by, in succession, by the Christian, Muslim, Mamluk, and Ottoman conquerors of Jerusalem. It contains important archaeological finds dating back 2,700 years, and is now a popular venue for benefit events, craft shows, concerts, and sound-and-light performances. The name "Tower of David" is due to Byzantine Christians who believed the site to be the palace of King David.

The easy way to get to Old Jerusalem The Christian Quarter, Israel, is to fly into the Ben Gurion International Airport. The airport is at the junction of the Haifa, Jerusalem, Dan, and Tel Aviv metropolitan areas. The Ben Gurion International Airport, (IATA: TLV, ICAO: LLBG), also referred to by its Hebrew acronym Natbag, is the largest and busiest international airport in Israel. It was named the best airport in the Middle East by the ACI organisation.[ The airport is located near the city of Lod, 15 km (9 mi) southeast of Tel Aviv. It is operated by the Israel Airports Authority, a government-owned corporation that manages all public airports and border crossings in the State of Israel. The Ben Gurion International Airport is considered one of the world's most secure airports, with a security force that includes both police officers and IDF soldiers. There are several hotels in or near Jerusalem. There are several Guided Tour Agencies offering standard city, and historical tours of Jerusalem, Israel and the surrounding areas. After arranging your flight we would suggest getting your hotel and then letting them arrange tours of the area for you. If you call the hotels Concierge Services ahead of your arrival, all of this can be pre-arranged for you. I do this all the time. It is safe and it works!!! I have never experienced a problem doing it this way! I have links to Priceline.Com on our page so that you can arrange your flight and hotel in the Jerusalem, Israel area.