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Jerusalem
The beating heart of the Old City's Jewish Quarter, Hurva Sq thrums with life: tourists rustle heritage maps of the city, children scamper around the plaza, and monochrome-clad families sweep to the synagogue. With fast-food restaurants, classy jewellery and Judaica boutiques, and lots of outdoor seating, Hurva Sq is a good place to catch your breath between museums.
The reconstructed Hurva Synagogue stands on the western side of the square.
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Four magnificent arches, their lintels richly decorated with Crusader crosses, herald the entrance to one of Christianity's most sacred sites. The church…
Temple Mount/Al Haram Ash Sharif
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There are few patches of ground as holy – or as disputed – as this one. Known to Muslims as Al Haram Ash Sharif (The Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as Har…
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The air is electric at Judaism's holiest prayer site, where worshippers recite scriptures, lay their hands on 2000-year-old stone and utter impassioned…
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More than 5000 years of cultural treasures are assembled around the vast Israel Museum's indoor and outdoor galleries. Highlights are the titanic statues…
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This reserve consists of two roughly parallel canyons, Wadi David and Wadi Arugot, each of which has its own entrance complex and ticket office. It is…
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A must-see on any journey through the Holy Land is Mar Saba Monastery, a bleak and beautiful 20km drive east of Bethlehem (beyond Beit Sahour).
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As teeming with controversy as it is with ancient history, the City of David is one of Jerusalem's most active archaeological sites. The oldest part of…
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Israel's official memorial to the six million Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis is powerful, poignant and a masterpiece of design. The museum's name…
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Descend to Jerusalem's ancient bones at this small subterranean museum. Among its impressively intact archaeological sites is a 600-sq-m Herodian-era…
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To the local Jewish community, the reconstructed Hurva Synagogue is a symbol of resilience. The earliest synagogue on this spot was wrecked in the early…
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This synagogue complex offers a taster of four places of worship, tightly packed together and able to be visited with a single ticket. The two oldest…
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Close to the large menorah in the Cardo, the Alone on the Walls Museum presents a Jewish perspective on the May 1948 campaign for control over the city,…
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The Cardo was originally a 22m-wide colonnaded avenue flanked by roofed arcades, the main artery of Roman and Byzantine Jerusalem. Following excavations…
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Buried under rubble for centuries and only recently excavated, this house was destroyed in 70 CE when the Romans put the city to the torch. The…
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This medieval chapel is the home of the small Syrian Orthodox congregation in Jerusalem, who believe that it occupies the site of the home of St Mark’s…
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The most convenient Old City gate for access to the Western Wall. The popular theory as to how this unflattering appellation came about is that at one…