The nicest view of the city was, and is today, from the summit of the Mount of Olives on the eastern side of the city. A Christian pilgrim or visitor standing on the Mount of Olives (probably at a point slightly north of the impressive Eleona basilica and a little west of the Church of the Ascension) around the mid sixth century had a wonderful view of the city in its prime. His greatest interest and awe were directed to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, with the dome of the Anastasis at its apex. The most important building in Byzantine Jerusalem, and perhaps in the entire Byzantine world, it was conceived in the time of Constantine as the New Temple or “New Jerusalem.” It was located in the northwestern part of the walled city, but if we were to assume that the city was expanded to the north more than it was to the south, then the church would appear to be in the center of the city. Indeed, the Madaba map shows the entrance to the church’s compound in the exact center of the city, pointing to what was conceived of as the Holy Sepulcher (and no longer the Temple Mount)—the navel, or omphalos, of the world.

If the visitor were to lower his gaze, he would see the vast and desolate esplanade of the Temple Mount which, from the Christian point of view, should be forgotten and out of sight. For a Jewish pilgrim, however, this area was the most sacred but also the most lamentable. He would possibly see piles of colossal stones of the ruined Jewish Temple, or perhaps also remains of the Temple’s western wall (not to be confused with the present-day “Western Wall”), from which, as some sages believed, God’s Divine Presence, the Shechinah, dwelled forever.

The rest of the city, from the Church of Zion in the south to the Church of St. Stephen in the north, lay before these pilgrims. We will take this opportunity to walk vicariously through the streets of Jerusalem, see its churches, monasteries, and residential quarters, using pilgrims’ reports, the Madaba map, and the archaeological finds as our guide.