Mt. Zion is just to the south of the wall surrounding Jerusalem today. Coming out of the Zion Gate, you will immediately face the magnificent Benedictine Basilica of the Dormition.
On his visit to Jerusalem in 1898 for the dedication of the Church of the Redeemer, the German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, bought the land from Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and gave it to the German Union of the Holy Land.
Its official name is the Basilica of Assumption (Dormition), but it is more widely known as the Dormition Abbey. Local tradition has it in an area believed to be near the original Upper Room. Likewise, early tradition marks this as the place where Mary, the Mother of Jesus, died.
It resembles a mighty fortress; based on plans by Heinrich Renard who used the cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle as a model. Interior highlights include mosaics and the wood-and-ivory statue of the sleeping Virgin in the crypt.
What is believed to be the site of the Room of the Last Supper lies just outside the Abbey behind a Franciscan house. The entire area has been transformed by Jews into different Yeshivas (School of the Torah). This is partially due to the belief that the Tomb of King David lies underneath the Upper Room.
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