The Church of Dominus Flevit, which translates as, “The Lord Has Wept,” commemorates the account in Luke 19 where Jesus looked out at the city of Jerusalem and wept over it as he was going there from the Mount of Olives.
Mass was in session while we were on the grounds, so I did not go inside this building.
Instead, most of our visit centered around the views of the city, the Olive trees and gardens, and the many tombs surrounding it.
The Kidron Valley lies between where I am standing and the city walls. The large building in the distance on the upper left of the photo is the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu. We will tour there later in the day.
As I pan right with my camera, the Dome of the Rock is prominent. This is a holy site for the Muslims and is built on the site where the original Jewish temple once stood.
The wall around the city continues as I pan further right.
There are many old olive trees in the gardens. Beyond the stone wall are rows and rows of tombs. I read that over 150,000 tombs have been identified but there are estimates of 300,000 actually present.
This is a close up of some of the tombs. Visitors mark their visit by placing a small stone on top of the tomb during the visit.
From here we travel over to the Basilica of Gethsemane.