Jerusalem - Mt. Zion

(The blue dome of the Dormition Abbey sits atop Mt. Zion)
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The Psalmist described Mt. Zion as God's "holy mountain, beautiful in elevation...the joy of all the earth" (Psalm 48).

Zion was the highest point in ancient Jerusalem. Its name became a symbol for the entire city and the Promised Land—the movement to make Israel home to displaced Jews was known as the Zionist Movement.

Zion's original location was the Jebusite fortress that David defeated in 1,000 BC. When Solomon erected the Temple, the Temple Mount became known as Mt. Zion. Then, following the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the name was transferred to its present location across the Tyropoeon Valley.

Oskar Shindler, the German industrialist credited with saving nearly 1,200 Jews in the Holocaust, is buried in the Catholic Cemetery near Zion Gate.

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