The interior was once almost as sumptuously decorated as the Dome of the Rock. The *Pulpit (mimbar), carved in wood and inlaid with ivory and mother-of-pearl, executed by order of Nûreddîn (p. [485]) in 1169 for the great mosque of Aleppo, was presented by Saladin. To him also the mosque owes the prayer-recess, with its graceful little marble columns, the superb mosaics of the mihrâb-wall, and the drum of the dome. The author or at least restorer of the decorations of the dome is said to have been Mohammed en-Nâsir (p. [448]). The windows date only from the time of Suleiman.
In the S.E. corner of the Haram area a staircase descends to a small Moslem Oratory with the ‘Cradle of Christ’ and to 13 vaulted galleries, part of the old substructure of the Haram, known as Solomon’s Stables. In the sixth gallery, counting from the E., there is a small door in the S. wall called the ‘Single Gate‘, an old entrance to the Haram.
The roof of the ‘Golden Gate’ (Pl. H, I, 4; Bâb ed-Dâhirîyeh), the only E. gate of the Haram, dating from the reign of Justinian (?) but now built up, affords a survey of the whole great quadrangle. At our feet lies the Kidron valley (p. [480]), with its rock-tombs, and opposite rises the Mt. of Olives (see below).
Time permitting, we may now visit the Wailing Place of the Jews (Kautal Maarbei; Pl. G, 5), to the W. of the Haram, reached by descending (to the S.) the eastmost side-street of the Tarîk Bâb es-Silseleh. It is probable that the Jews, who never enter the Haram precincts for fear of desecrating the holy of holies, were in the habit of repairing hither as early as the middle ages to bewail the downfall of Jerusalem. The scene is most touching on Friday afternoons (after 4 p.m.), when crowds of mourners flock to the place and litanies are chanted.
The Mount of Olives (Mons Oliveti, Jebel et-Tûr), running parallel to the Temple hill, is closely associated with the last days of Christ on earth. It is visited (best in the forenoon) either by carriage from the Jaffa or the Damascus Gate (10–12 fr.; ascent ½ hr.), or on horseback (p. [471]) or on foot from St. Stephen’s Gate (p. [475]). Those who return by the valley of the Kidron should order their carriage to meet them at the Garden of Gethsemane.
From the Damascus Gate (p. [473]) the road leads past the Dominican Monastery of St. Stephen (on the right; Pl. E, 1) and then, beyond the Anglican Bishop’s House, past the so-called Tombs of the Kings (on the right). This large subterranean burial-ground, with its tomb-chambers and shaft-tombs, probably belonged to queen Helena of Adiabene and her family (1st cent. A.D.). The road to Nâbulus soon diverges to the left; ours ascends in a wide curve northwards to the top of the Scopus and to the Mt. of Olives.
On the N. height of the Mt. of Olives, to the left of the road, is the new German Augusta Victoria Institute (sanatorium and church).
On the E. summit (2665 ft.) are the Russian Buildings, a pilgrims’ hospice, the Russian Church of the Ascension, and a six-storied Belvedere Tower (214 steps). The *Panorama embraces the city and the hills around Jerusalem and Bethlehem (the latter itself not visible). Towards the E. lie the Dead Sea (1293 ft. below sea-level) and the Jordan valley (Arabic El-Ghôr), and among the bluish Mts. of Moab rises Mt. Nebo (2644 ft.), whence Moses beheld the promised land before his death (Deut. xxxiv. 1–4).
A little to the W. of the Russian Buildings lies the poor village Kafr et-Tûr. Near it is the Chapel of the Ascension, built in 1834–5, to mark the scene of the Ascension (in contradiction to Luke xxiv. 50, ‘He led them out as far as Bethany’). Of the earlier churches here, one a round building of Emp. Constantine, the other built by the Crusaders, few traces are left.
To the S. of the village are the Latin Buildings, including the Credo and Paternoster Churches (1898).