Mount Zion, the hill just south of the Old City walls, is where some of the most important events in Jewish and Christian tradition are said to have taken place. The Room of the Last Supper (the Cenacle) is here. The traditional tomb of King David is here. And the Dormition Abbey, marking where the Virgin Mary fell into eternal sleep, crowns the hilltop.
Upper Room (Cenacle)
The Cenacle, a Gothic hall built by the Crusaders on the second floor of a building on Mount Zion, marks the traditional site of the Last Supper, the final Passover meal that Jesus shared with his disciples before his crucifixion (Matthew 26:17-30). The room is also identified with the place where the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). The hall is austere and largely empty, with Gothic arches and a small mihrab added during the Ottoman period when the building was converted to a mosque. The simplicity of the space, paradoxically, makes it more powerful.
David’s Tomb
On the ground floor of the same building, a cenotaph draped in velvet is venerated as the Tomb of King David. The identification is almost certainly legendary (David was likely buried in the City of David, not here), but the site has been a place of Jewish prayer for centuries, and the small, intense prayer room remains an important pilgrimage destination.
Dormition Abbey
The Dormition Abbey, a German Benedictine church completed in 1910, marks the spot where Catholic tradition holds that the Virgin Mary died (or “fell asleep,” hence “dormition”). The church’s distinctive cone-shaped tower and round apse are landmarks on the Jerusalem skyline. The crypt contains a wooden effigy of the sleeping Mary, and the mosaic floor of the upper church features zodiac and prophetic imagery.
Zion Gate
Zion Gate (Sha’ar Tzion), the entrance to the Old City from Mount Zion, is the most battle-scarred of Jerusalem’s gates. The stone walls flanking the gate are pockmarked with hundreds of bullet holes from the 1948 war, when Israeli forces fought desperately to break through to the besieged Jewish Quarter. A Palmach unit under the command of David Elazar (later IDF Chief of Staff) managed to breach the gate and reach the quarter, but the relief was temporary. The Jewish Quarter fell days later, and its residents were evacuated.
The bullet holes have been deliberately preserved as a memorial. Walking through Zion Gate today, running your hand along the stone and feeling the pockmarks left by the bullets, is one of the most tactile encounters with the 1948 war in the city. The gate connects the Mount Zion sites to the Armenian Quarter and the Jewish Quarter within the walls.
Visit with Hoshen Tours
Mount Zion packs three faiths and two thousand years into a single hilltop. Hoshen Tours includes it in Jerusalem itineraries that connect the Old City to the surrounding hills.