Mount Zion – Hebrew – Har Tziyyon is the name of a hill in Jerusalem just outside the walls of the Old City. The term “Zion” became a synecdoche referring to the entire city of Jerusalem and the Land of Israel.
Overlooking the Sultan’s Pool, Mount Zion has always been an important point of interest for visitors to Jerusalem. Some of the shrines most sacred to Christianity and Judaism are to be found here. The black-coned roof of the Dormition Abbey stands out against the Jerusalem sky line. Traditionally it is believed that the death of Mary occurred here.
Mount Zion is the highest point in the city of Jerusalem, equally as high as the Temple Mount, is the Western Hill. This is the summit and western slope of the ridge just to the east of the Tyropean Valley and the Lower City. Mount Zion – site of the Last Supper and of King David’s Tomb.
The term “Zion” became a synecdoche referring to the entire city of Jerusalem and the Land of Israel.
Important sites on Mount Zion today are Dormition Abbey , King David’s Tomb and the Room of the Last Supper. The Chamber of the Holocaust (Martef Hashoah), the precursor of Yad Vashem is also located on Mount Zion. Other places of interest are the Christian cemetery where Oskar Schindler, a Righteous Gentile who saved hundreds of Jews in the Holocaust, is buried.
Close by is the Center of Coenaculum – the Hall of the Last Supper. Jesus and his followers celebrated the Passover feast here. Beneath the Cenacle is the Hall of the Washing of the Feet, a small room which leads into a fair sized hall housing the Toms of the King David. Although it is quite possible that this is not the true grave, it nevertheless became a hallowed place for pilgrims between 1948 and 1967 when the Western Wall was in Jordanian hands and could not be visited by Jews.
