Old City of Jerusalem

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls**¹
**UNESCO World Heritage Site**

State Party	Jerusalem
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iii, vi
Identification	#148
Region²	Europe and North America
Inscription History
Formal Inscription:	1981 5th WH Committee Session
In Danger	1982-
WH link:	http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/148
1 Name as officially inscribed on the WH List 2 As classified officially by UNESCO

The Old City of Jerusalem is an approximately one square kilometer area of the modern day Israeli city of Jerusalem. ^[1] The Old City was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site List in 1981 and in 1982 it was added to the List of World Heritage in Danger. The Old City is home to several of Jerusalem's most important contested religious sites and lies at the heart of the modern day Arab-Israeli Conflict. The area includes the Western Wall and Temple Mount for Jews, the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre among different sects of Christians.

[edit] History

Before King David's conquest of Jerusalem in the 10th century BC the city was home of the Jebusites. The Bible describes the city as heavily fortified with a strong city wall but not much is known about it. King Solomon extended the city walls and then, in about 440 BC, under the Persian period, Nehemiah arrived from Babylon and rebuilt them. In AD 41-44 Agrippa, king of Judea, built a new city wall known as the "Third Wall".

In 1219 the walls of the city were razed by Mu'azzim Sultan of Damascus; in 1229, by treaty with Egypt, Jerusalem came into the hands of Frederick II of Germany. In 1239 he began to rebuild the walls; but they were again demolished by Da'ud, the emir of Kerak.

In 1243 Jerusalem came again into the power of the Christians, and the walls were repaired. The Kharezmian Tatars took the city in 1244 and Sultan Malik al-Muattam razed the city walls, rendering it again defenseless and dealing a heavy blow to the city's status.

The current walls of the Old City do not include the original area conquered by King David. This area, which is now called the City of David, is located to the southeast of the current Old City, outside The Dung Gate.