Touching the Dome of the Rock

There is nothing more incredible than going to the Temple Mount and touching the Dome of the Rock, and I did it!

The Dome of the Rock is probably the most recognizable monument in Jerusalem. For those who don't know, it's one of the earliest and most well-preserved pieces of Islamic architecture and is significant for a variety of reasons. For Muslims, the Dome of the Rock is built over the rock that Muhammad fell asleep on before his ascention into heaven with the angel Gabriel. For the Jews (and us) the Dome is supposedly built over the Holy of Holies from the temple of Solomon. Interestingly, the Temple Mount itself is located on Mount Moriah, which is where the temple was in Christ's time, where Abraham went to sacrifice Issac, and especially interestingly, Calvary is located on Mount Moriah (which I hadn't realized until I got here) which means that Christ was also sacrificed on this mountain. (Talk about interesting parallels, huh?)

Because the Dome of the Rock is an operating mosque, there are only about 3 hours a day that you can visit it. Fortunately, for us, we made it just in time.

I was amazed, you can just walk right up to it and touch it.

We asked the guard if we could go in. He shook his head and said, "No, is closed." We asked if we could come back another time and go in. He said, "No, is always closed."

Too bad. It was an incredible experience though!

After going to the Temple Mount we walked along the outer wall of the Old City. It was also really cool to look out and see the city from all the different areas of town. I loved it!