Image Details

Garo Nalbandian

A deep, serpentine furrow, the Kidron Valley guards the eastern approach to Jerusalem. The tree-covered Temple Mount, with its golden Dome of the Rock and silver El-Aksa mosque, stands above and to the west of the valley, defined by deep shadows in the center of the photo. In the foreground in front of the Temple Mount, on the western (left) flank of the Kidron Valley, modern houses and archaeological excavations now cover the City of David. On the eastern (right) slope of the Kidron Valley are the densely packed dwellings of the Arab village of Silwan. The Siloam Pool, to which Hezekiah’s Tunnel carries the water of the Gihon Spring, is located at the edge of the sunlit part of the City of David, in the lower center. The tunnel itself is unseen beneath the surface of the City of David (see photo of Hezekiah’s Tunnel). To the right of the Temple mount, on the far side of the broad road, a church and dense trees mark the traditional site of the Garden of Gethsemane on the flank of the Mount of Olives (see photo of Garden of Gethsemane).