Temple Mount
Archaeology » Heritage sites» Temple Mount
Location
Jerusalem

Country
Israel

Year of Research
1967

Culture
The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. Jewish Midrash holds that it was from here that the world expanded into its present form, and that this was where God gathered the dust he used to create the first man, Adam. The Torah records that it was here that God chose to rest his Divine Presence, and consequently two Jewish Temples were built at the site. According to Jewish tradition, the Third Temple will also be located here, and will be the final one.In Islam, the site is revered as the location of Islamic prophet Muhammad journey to Jerusalem and ascent to heaven and is associated with other local Muslim figures of antiquity. The site is the location of the alAqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, the oldest extant Islamic structure in the world.In 1967, the Israeli government assigned a Muslim council, known as the Muslim Waqf, management of the site. The government enforces a controversial ban on prayer by non Muslim visitors.