58 Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem (guest appearance: mosque)

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 This is a blog about churches, for a number of reasons. Firstly, there are lots of them in the Paris region, and in the countries I tend to hang around in in Europe. Secondly I had a Full English Catholic Upbringing, so I know a lot of the stories around the images and furniture in churches. And finally because most versions of Christianity give a pretty theatrical and visual role to their churches. But occasionally, I will put in a mosque or synagogue or two. So here are some pictures of the Dome of the rock, and the area around it, aka the compound of the  Al Aqsa  mosque. Those of you who are following know that Muslims wh opray here are frequently victims to Israeli state repression. The far right in Israel would like to destroy the mosque in order to rebuild the temple which was here centuries before the mosque was built.

As a tourist, you get to the esplanade by a bizarre and rickety looking wooden structure a hundred metres long, which takes you over the Western wall, the remaining wall of the old Jewish temple,  sacred   to Judaism. 

The inside of the mosque is reserved to believers (tourists were allowed to visit it, sometime backin the 20th century). But the esplanade is pretty amazing.

Information in English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome_of_the_Rock

Information in Arabic https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AC%D8%AF_%D9%82%D8%A8%D8%A9_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D8%AE%D8%B1%D9%87


















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