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For centuries, Jerusalem, Israel, has been a place where different ideas, people and religions run into one another, and that's a big part of what makes it such a fascinating place to visit. As the focal point of three of the world's major religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam—Jerusalem's temples and shrines continuously welcome pilgrims bound for those places that make the city so special.

The collision of cultures is also part of the reason that Jerusalem has been the scene of upheaval and conquest throughout its long history. Conquerors have left their marks on Jerusalem, from the Greeks and Romans to the Ottomans and the British. The Old City, its massive fortifications enclosing the Temple Mount, Western Wall and Church of the Holy Sepulchre, has its foundations some 3,000 years ago in the days of King Solomon, who enlarged the walled area, while majestic remnants of King Herod's massive construction works 1,000 years later are clearly visible.

Must See or Do

Sights—The wonders of the Old City—the Western Wall, Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem Archaeological Park, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Citadel (Tower of David) and the bazaar; the view from the Haas Promenade.

Museums—The breathtaking Israel Museum and the adjacent Shrine of the Book containing the Dead Sea Scrolls; somber Yad Vashem museum of the Holocaust; the Bible Lands Museum.

Memorable Meals—Adom restaurant at First Station; delicious, biblically inspired foods at Eucalyptus; Lebanese-Palestinian cuisine at Turquoise; Azura for its home-style Iraqi, Kurdish and Sephardic cuisine in the heart of the Mahane Yehuda market.

Walks—A stroll on the Haas Promenade day or night; the streets of Mea She'arim; through the Mahane Yehuda open-air marketplace; a jaunt through the village of Ein Kerem and its art galleries.

Especially for Kids—A trip in the Time Elevator; the Tisch Family Zoological Gardens for an up-close look at animals whose ancestors date from biblical times; the youth wing at the Israel Museum.

Geography

The Old City is the main attraction for most visitors. Its twisting, cobblestoned streets can be overwhelming to newcomers, but if its individual areas are considered separately, it's more manageable. It contains most of the historic and religious sites and is defined by the ancient walls that enclose the 4-sq-mi/10-sq-km area. The Old City is further divided into Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Armenian quarters.

East Jerusalem is predominantly Arab and mostly lies north of the Old City, adjoining the Muslim Quarter.

The New City, better known as West Jerusalem, is a large area that encompasses much of Jerusalem outside the Old City and East Jerusalem. It's home to the main commercial and residential districts, as well as many of the high-end hotels. Because it covers such a wide swath of Jerusalem, it helps to break the New City down into smaller neighborhoods where popular attractions are found.

The part of the New City known as downtown is centered on Zion Square. Mamilla Mall is near Jaffa Gate, with stylish shops and cafes. About a mile/kilometer south of downtown is the German Colony, an area crowded with trendy restaurants and cafes, especially along Emek Refaim Road. Farther south is Talpiot, a hot spot for dance clubs. The Russian Compound is just to the west of the Old City and is home to many restaurants and nightspots popular with a younger crowd. West of downtown are the Knesset (Israeli parliament) and other government buildings, as well as Museum Row, with the Israel Museum and Shrine of the Book as its centerpiece. Farther west, Har Hazikaron (Mount Herzl) has important sights and memorials, including the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial.

Two other areas of note lie outside the New City area. The Mount of Olives, just east of the Old City, is the location of key landmarks related to biblical events in both the Hebrew and Christian bibles. At the opposite end of the Jerusalem metropolitan area, on the city's western edge, is lovely Ein Kerem, which has religious sites, restaurants and other attractions.

History

Jerusalem has a history as the scene of repeated conflict and redemption. The city was a Canaanite settlement during the second millennium BC until its capture by King David in 997 BC, when it began to grow into the cultural and spiritual center of the Hebrews. David's son King Solomon constructed the Holy Temple on Temple Mount (the "First Temple") and erected city walls. Jerusalem was subsequently captured, and the Temple destroyed, by the Babylonians in the sixth century BC. Two generations later, the Jews rebuilt the Temple (the "Second Temple").

The city was conquered by Alexander the Great in 331 BC and so became part of the Hellenic (Greek) world, which led to the successful Maccabean Revolt in 167 BC and the setting up of the independent Jewish kingdom of the Hasmoneans. This survived until the conquest of Jerusalem by the Roman Empire in 63 BC. Acting as Rome's proxy, King Herod grandly reconstructed the Holy Temple, but under Roman rule, Judaism was partly suppressed, leading to periodic revolts. This culminated in the Great Revolt of AD 66, which was resoundingly crushed. The Temple was burned to the ground and all Jews expelled in AD 70, ending all semblance of a Jewish state for nearly 2,000 years.

The Emperor Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem in AD 135 as a Roman, pagan city—the layout of today's Old City is largely his work—and renamed it Aelia Capitolina. He banned the practice of Judaism, and Jews were forbidden to visit the city.

In the fourth century, Emperor Constantine was the first Roman ruler to convert to Christianity, leading to a flourish of church-building and spiritual activity. Indeed, many of the construction projects in Jerusalem were overseen by Helena, Constantine's devoutly Christian mother; the most notable of these is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Muslims captured the city in AD 638, revering it as a place visited in a dream by the prophet Muhammad. They were ousted in 1099 during the Crusades, when both Muslims and Jews were violently repressed under Christian rule. Jerusalem returned to Muslim hands in 1187. The Ottomans were the next empire to seize control, beginning their tenure in the early 1500s. They rebuilt the protective walls around the Old City that remain to this day.

Because it was far from the Ottoman capital in Constantinople (now Istanbul), Jerusalem fell into political and physical disorder until the 1800s, when Christian pilgrims regained interest in the city. Increasing waves of Jewish immigrants, persecuted elsewhere, also began pouring back to their spiritual center. By this time, Jerusalem was known as a part of Palestine and had a large population of Arab Muslims. The British took over after World War I, but the influx of European Jews was unstoppable, especially in the 1930s, and the British were eventually driven out by an increasingly effective Jewish resistance movement; the British mandate ended in 1948. Following a United Nations vote, it was agreed that the Jews should be allowed to set up a state in part of their ancient homeland. The proposed area did not include Jerusalem, but opposition and invasion by the surrounding Arab nations ignited Israel's 1948 war for independence, at the end of which a line was drawn through the city: Jews controlled the western districts, and Arabs held the Old City and East Jerusalem.

The Arab neighbors continued their opposition and, as an outcome of the Six Day War in 1967, Israel captured the rest of Jerusalem and annexed the Old City. The city was reunited and declared Israel's capital, but it did not receive international recognition.

Since the early 1990s, there has been a host of attempts to create a lasting peace agreement between the two sides. In 1995, Israel granted increased Palestinian self-rule in Gaza and the West Bank. Since then, a central issue has been the highly charged question of who will control the Old City and East Jerusalem.

Jerusalem suffered through a wave of terrorist attacks in the 1990s and during the Second Intifada between 2001 and 2005. These gradually came to an end with the construction of the "security barrier"—a high fence (in places, a concrete wall, which can be viewed just east of the city) protecting Israel from the West Bank.

With the radical group Hamas taking control of Palestine in 2007, and right-wing Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu becoming prime minister in 2009, the situation continually worsened, with unprompted Israeli attacks on Gaza fueling relation from Palestinians.

In May 2018, the U.S. relocated its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, creating violence and protests; and in July, Israel's parliament passed a controversial law characterizing the country as principally a Jewish state, fueling anger among its Arab minority.

Potpourri

The City of David, outside the walls of the Old City, is the most ancient section of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is the most excavated city in the country, with only about 30% of the work completed.

The holiest site in Jerusalem, according to both Jewish and Islamic tradition, is the Temple Mount (Har HaBayit in Hebrew or Al-Haram ash-Sharif in Arabic). For Jews it is the site of the Holy Temple (or Beit HaMikdash), whereas Muslims revere it as the place from which the prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven in a dream on his Night Journey.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was designated the site of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection by Helena of Constantinople (Emperor Constantine's mother) in the fourth century. Some Christian scholars disagree and think the Garden Tomb is a more likely location.

The Western Wall, or Kotel, which serves as an outdoor synagogue, is a place of prayer because it's the closest space to Temple Mount, which housed the Ark of the Covenant.

If you are wondering what happens to all those little letters left in the crevices of the Western Wall, once a month they are taken out and buried on top of the Mount of Olives.