Chapel of the Ascension (Jerusalem)

The Chapel of the Ascension is located on the highest point of Mount of Olives in Jerusalem east of the Old Town. It is located at the point from which - according to tradition - Jesus Christ ascended to heaven (Acts 1.9 EU).

History

Even the early Christians thought of the Ascension of Christ in a cave on the Mount of Olives. In the year 387 a pious Roman lady named Poimenia donated an octagonal church, which was destroyed largely by the Persian forces under Khosrau II in 614. In the late 7th century, an open top bridge subsequently is mentioned, in which - within an enclosure - the two footprints of Christ were to be seen in the dust. This building was also - probably under the Fatimid Sultan Al -Hakim in 1009 - destroyed.

The Crusaders built the - probably covered - ground floor of the present chapel around the year 1150 on the stone with the ' footprint of the Lord '. After the conquest of Jerusalem by Saladin in 1187, the building was converted into a mosque, which he also officially until today ( Ascension Mosque). Due to the high number of Christian visitors, however, Saladin decided to build a new mosque in the immediate vicinity, so that the Chapel of the Ascension was almost exclusively used for centuries by Christians.

Architecture

The chapel is a simple construction with a diameter of about 6.60 m, which - in the octagonal exterior - Ground floor of arcades is surrounded with beautiful Romanesque capitals. The octagon leads into an also octagonal and 4 narrow windows exposed drum with rounded corners from the time of Saladin; about rounds a - outside and inside unadorned - Dome building upwards.

The unadorned wall round the inside of the building is of a mihrab niche and two - accented wall niches - located on both sides of it. In the bottom there is a small rectangular enclosure, the views of the original rock with the - release right footprint of Christ - alleged. The enclosure for the left footprint has already been spent in the Middle Ages in the Al -Aqsa Mosque.

Others

The Catholics may celebrate the Feast of the Ascension in the chapel, while the Eastern churches must hold their worship in the yard.

Ascension of Mohammed

Some researchers believe that the already octagonal ground plan of the predecessors of today's Chapel of the Ascension as an architectural model for the - could have served Dome of the Rock (c. 700), from which - - also octagonal allegedly - the Prophet Mohammed is said to have begun his nocturnal journey to heaven.