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The '''Cenacle''' (from the [[Latin]] {{lang|la|[[wikt:cenaculum|cenaculum]]}}, "dining room"), also known as the '''Upper Room''' (from the [[Koine Greek]] {{transliteration|grc|[[wikt:αναγαιον|anagaion]]}} and {{transliteration|grc|[[wikt:ύπερωιον|hyperōion]]}}, both meaning "upper room"), is a room in [[Mount Zion]] in [[Jerusalem]], just outside the [[Walls of Jerusalem|Old City walls]], traditionally held to be the site of the [[Last Supper]], the final meal that, in the [[Gospel]] accounts, [[Jesus]] held with the [[Apostles in the New Testament|apostles]].


The '''Cenacle''' (from the [[Latin]] {{lang|la|[[wikt:cenaculum|cenaculum]]}}, "dining room"), also known as the '''Upper Room''' (from the [[Koine Greek]] ''anagaion'' and ''hyperōion'', both meaning "upper room"), is a room in [[Mount Zion]] in [[Jerusalem]], just outside the [[Walls of Jerusalem|Old City walls]], traditionally held to be the site of the [[Last Supper]], the final meal that, in the [[Gospel]] accounts, [[Jesus]] held with the [[Apostles in the New Testament|apostles]].
According to the Christian [[Bible]], the Cenacle was a place in which the [[Apostles in the New Testament|apostles]] continued to gather after the Last Supper, and it was also the site where the [[Holy Spirit]] alighted upon the eleven apostles on [[Pentecost]].<ref name=":0">[http://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/acts/1.htm Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges] on Acts 1, accessed 24 September 2016: "The eleven were the tenants of the upper room, to which the other disciples resorted for conference and communion".</ref>

According to the Christian [[Bible]], the Cenacle was a place in which the apostles continued to gather after the Last Supper, and it was also the site where the [[Holy Spirit]] alighted upon the eleven apostles on [[Pentecost]].<ref name=":02">[http://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/acts/1.htm Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges] on Acts 1, accessed 24 September 2016: "The eleven were the tenants of the upper room, to which the other disciples resorted for conference and communion".</ref>


The site is administered by the [[Israel]]i authorities, and is part of a building holding the so-called "[[David's Tomb]]" on its ground floor.
The site is administered by the [[Israel]]i authorities, and is part of a building holding the so-called "[[David's Tomb]]" on its ground floor.


==Etymology==
==Etymology==
"Cenacle" is a derivative of the [[Latin language|Latin]] word {{lang|la|cēnō}}, which means "I dine". [[Jerome]] used the Latin {{lang|la|coenaculum}} for both Greek words in his Latin Vulgate translation.
"Cenacle" is a derivative of the [[Latin]] word {{lang|la|ceno}}, which means "I dine". [[Jerome]] used the Latin ''[[coenaculum]]'' for both Greek words in his Latin Vulgate translation.


"Upper room" is derived from the [[Gospel of Mark]] and the [[Gospel of Luke]], which both employ the [[Koine Greek]]: {{transliteration|grc|anagaion}} ({{lang|grc|αναγαιον}}, Mark 14:15<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|14:15}}</ref> and Luke 22:12),<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|22:12}}</ref> whereas the [[Acts of the Apostles]] uses the [[Koine Greek]] {{transliteration|grc|hyperōion}} ({{lang|grc|ὑπερῷον}}, Acts 1:13),<ref name="bibleverse|Acts|1:13">{{bibleverse|Acts|1:13}}</ref> both with the meaning "upper room".
"Upper room" is derived from the [[Gospel of Mark]] and the [[Gospel of Luke]], which both employ the [[Koine Greek]]: {{transliteration|grc|anagaion}} ({{lang|grc|ἀνάγαιον}}, Mark 14:15<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|14:15}}</ref> and Luke 22:12),<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|22:12}}</ref> whereas the [[Acts of the Apostles]] uses the [[Koine Greek]] {{transliteration|grc|hyperōion}} ({{lang|grc|ὑπερῷον}}, Acts 1:13),<ref name="bibleverse|Acts|1:13">{{bibleverse|Acts|1:13}}</ref> both with the meaning "upper room".


==Overview==
==Overview==
[[File:1472 map of Jerusalem by Hugo Comminelli and Pietro del Massaio 01.jpg|thumb|A 1472 [[Cartography of Jerusalem|map of Jerusalem]] notes the place of the [[pentecost]], {{lang|la|"Ubi apostoli acceperunt spiritum sanctum"}}, at the location of the cenacle (top left).]]
[[File:1472 map of Jerusalem by Hugo Comminelli and Pietro del Massaio 01.jpg|thumb|A 1472 [[Cartography of Jerusalem|map of Jerusalem]] notes the place of the [[pentecost]], {{lang|la|"Ubi apostoli acceperunt spiritum sanctum"}}, at the location of the cenacle (top left).]]

The Cenacle is considered the site where many other events described in the [[New Testament]] took place,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/pope/10GPen/12/12GPsh05.html|publisher=Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land|title=The Cenacle|access-date=20 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080915021728/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/pope/10GPen/12/12GPsh05.html#|archive-date=2008-09-15|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Tourist+Information/Christian+Themes/Details/The+Coenaculum+++chr.htm|work=www.goisrael.com|publisher=Israel Ministry of Tourism|title=The Coenaculum|access-date=20 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090621050618/http://www.goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Tourist+Information/Christian+Themes/Details/The+Coenaculum+++chr.htm#|archive-date=2009-06-21|url-status=dead}}</ref> such as:
The building has experienced numerous cycles of destruction and reconstruction, culminating in the [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] structure which stands today.

===Foundational events from the Gospels===
The Cenacle is considered the site where many major events described in the [[New Testament]] took place,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/pope/10GPen/12/12GPsh05.html|publisher=Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land|title=The Cenacle|access-date=20 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080915021728/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/pope/10GPen/12/12GPsh05.html#|archive-date=2008-09-15|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Tourist+Information/Christian+Themes/Details/The+Coenaculum+++chr.htm|work=www.goisrael.com|publisher=Israel Ministry of Tourism|title=The Coenaculum|access-date=20 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090621050618/http://www.goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Tourist+Information/Christian+Themes/Details/The+Coenaculum+++chr.htm#|archive-date=2009-06-21|url-status=dead}}</ref> such as:
* preparation for the celebration of Jesus's final [[Passover Seder|Passover meal]]<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|22:13}}</ref>
* preparation for the celebration of Jesus's final [[Passover Seder|Passover meal]]<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|22:13}}</ref>
* the [[Maundy (foot washing)|washing of his disciples' feet]]<ref>{{bibleverse|John|13:4–11}}</ref>
* the [[Maundy (foot washing)|washing of his disciples' feet]]<ref>{{bibleverse|John|13:4–11}}</ref>
* the Last Supper
* certain [[resurrection appearances of Jesus]]<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|16:14}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|24:33}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|John|20:19}}</ref>
* certain [[resurrection appearances of Jesus]] ({{bibleverse|Mark|16:14}}, {{bibleverse|Luke|24:33}}, {{bibleverse|John|20:19}})
* the gathering of the [[Disciple (Christianity)|disciples]] after the [[Ascension of Jesus]]<ref name="bibleverse|Acts|1:13"/>
* the election of [[Saint Matthias]] as apostle<ref>{{bibleverse|Acts|1:15}}</ref>
* the gathering of the [[Disciple (Christianity)|disciples]] after the [[Ascension of Jesus]] ({{bibleverse|Acts|1:13}})
* the descent of the [[Holy Spirit]] upon the disciples on the day of [[Pentecost]].<ref>{{bibleverse|Acts|2:1–4}}</ref>
* the election of [[Saint Matthias]] as apostle ({{bibleverse|Acts|1:15}})
* the descent of the [[Holy Spirit]] upon the disciples on the day of [[Pentecost]] ({{bibleverse|Acts|2:1–4}}). As a result, Peter and the other apostles went out, converted to their faith and baptised 3,000 people in one day ({{bibleverse|Acts|2:5–41}}).


In Christian tradition, the room was not only the site of the Last Supper, i.e., the ''Cenacle,'' but the room in which the Holy Spirit alighted upon the twelve apostles and other believers gathered and praying together on Pentecost. Acts 1-2 tell us that Judas had been replaced by Matthias, and 120 followers of Jesus gathered in this room after His ascension.
Pilgrims to Jerusalem report visiting a structure on Mount Zion commemorating the Last Supper since the 4th century AD. Some scholars would have it that this was the Cenacle, in fact a synagogue from an earlier time. The anonymous pilgrim from Bordeaux, France reported seeing such a synagogue in 333 AD. A Christian synagogue is mentioned in the apocryphal 4th-century {{lang|la|[[Anaphora Pilati]]}} ("Report of Pilate"); although the depiction is fantastic and of questionable reliability (the report claims that all of the other synagogues were destroyed by divine wrath immediately after Jesus's death), a Jewish origin for the building has come under serious question. The building has experienced numerous cycles of destruction and reconstruction, culminating in the Gothic structure which stands today.


===Theories regarding Apostolic Age===
While the term ''Cenacle'' refers only to the Upper Room, a niche located on the lower level of the same building is associated by tradition with the [[David's Tomb|burial site of King David]], marked by a large [[cenotaph]]-[[sarcophagus]] first reported seen by [[Christianity in the 12th century|12th-century]] Crusaders but earlier mentioned in the 10th-century {{lang|la|Vita Constantini}}.<ref>''Vita Constantini'' 11.</ref> Most accept the notice in 1 Kings 2:10<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Kings|2:10}}</ref> that says David was buried "in the City of David", identified as the Eastern hill of ancient Jerusalem, as opposed to what is today called ''Mount Sion'', the Western hill of the ancient city. The general location of the Cenacle is also associated with that of the house where the [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Virgin Mary]] lived among the [[Apostles in the New Testament|apostles]] until her death or ''dormition'', an event celebrated in the nearby [[Dormition Abbey|Church of the Dormition]].
It is sometimes thought to be the place where the apostles stayed in [[Jerusalem in Christianity|Jerusalem]]. The language in [[Acts of the Apostles]] suggests that the apostles used the room as a temporary residence ([[Koine Greek]]: {{lang|grc|οὗ ἦσαν καταμένοντες}}, {{transliteration|grc|hou ēsan katamenontes}}),<ref name=":02"/> although the [[Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary]] disagrees, preferring to see the room as a place where they were "not lodged, but had for their meeting place".<ref>[http://biblehub.com/commentaries/jfb/acts/1.htm Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary] on Acts 1, accessed 24 September 2016</ref><ref>Fortescue, A. (1910). "Jerusalem (A.D. 71-1099)". In ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved January 26, 2020 from [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08355a.htm New Advent]. "During the [[Early Christianity|first Christian centuries]] the church at this place was the centre of Christianity in Jerusalem, "Holy and glorious Sion, mother of all churches" (Intercession in "[[Liturgy of St. James|St. James' Liturgy]]", ed. Brightman, p. 54). Certainly no spot in Christendom can be more venerable than the place of the Last Supper, which became the first Christian church."</ref>


===Dormition of Mary===
In Christian tradition, the room was not only the site of the Last Supper, i.e., the ''Cenacle,'' but the room in which the Holy Spirit alighted upon the twelve apostles and other believers gathered and praying together on Pentecost. Acts 1 - 2 tell us that Judas had been replaced by Matthias, and 120 followers of Jesus gathered in this room after His ascension.
The general location of the Cenacle is also associated with that of the house where the [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Virgin Mary]] lived among the [[Apostles in the New Testament|apostles]] until her death or ''dormition'', an event celebrated in the nearby [[Dormition Abbey|Church of the Dormition]].


===Early building===
It is sometimes thought to be the place where the apostles stayed in [[Jerusalem in Christianity|Jerusalem]]. The language in [[Acts of the Apostles]] suggests that the apostles used the room as a temporary residence ([[Koine Greek]]: {{lang|grc|οὗ ἦσαν καταμένοντες}}, {{transliteration|grc|hou ēsan katamenontes}}),<ref name=":0" /> although the [[Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary]] disagrees, preferring to see the room as a place where they were "not lodged, but had for their meeting place".<ref>[http://biblehub.com/commentaries/jfb/acts/1.htm Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary] on Acts 1, accessed 24 September 2016</ref><ref>Fortescue, A. (1910). "Jerusalem (A.D. 71-1099)". In ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved January 26, 2020 from [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08355a.htm New Advent]. "During the [[Early Christianity|first Christian centuries]] the church at this place was the centre of Christianity in Jerusalem, "Holy and glorious Sion, mother of all churches" (Intercession in "[[Liturgy of St. James|St. James' Liturgy]]", ed. Brightman, p. 54). Certainly no spot in Christendom can be more venerable than the place of the Last Supper, which became the first Christian church."</ref>
Pilgrims to Jerusalem report visiting a structure on Mount Zion commemorating the Last Supper since the 4th century AD. Some scholars would have it that this was the Cenacle, in fact a synagogue from an earlier time. The anonymous pilgrim from Bordeaux, France reported seeing such a synagogue in 333.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Clausen |first1=David Christian |title=The Upper Room and Tomb of David: The History, Art and Archaeology of the Cenacle on Mount Zion |date=2016 |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |isbn=978-1-4766-6305-0 |page=29}}</ref> A Christian synagogue is mentioned in the apocryphal 4th-century {{lang|la|[[Anaphora Pilati]]}} ("Report of Pilate"); although the depiction is fantastic and of questionable reliability (the report claims that all of the other synagogues were destroyed by divine wrath immediately after Jesus's death), a Jewish origin for the building has come under serious question.

===The "Tomb of King David"===
While the term ''Cenacle'' refers only to the Upper Room, a niche located on the lower level of the same building is associated by tradition with the [[David's Tomb|burial site of King David]], marked by a large [[cenotaph]]-[[sarcophagus]] that dates to the [[Christianity in the 12th century|12th-century]],{{sfn|Reem|Berkovich|2016|p=74}} but earlier mentioned in the 10th-century {{lang|la|Vita Constantini}}.<ref>''Vita Constantini'' 11.</ref>{{clarify|reason=1. 10th century? Not Eusebius' C4 book? 2. What is mentioned in this C10 Vita Constantini, the tomb site as such, a funeral monument, a bldg, what? A link would help greatly.|date=October 2023}} Most accept the notice in {{bibleverse|1 Kings|2:10}} that says that David was buried "in the [[City of David (archaeological site)|City of David]]", identified as the Eastern hill of ancient Jerusalem, as opposed to what is today called ''Mount Sion'', the Western hill of the ancient city.


==History==
==History==
{{main|David's Tomb#History}}
{{See also|Jerusalem in Christianity}}
{{See also|Jerusalem in Christianity}}

===Theoretical pre-Byzantine building===
===Theoretical pre-Byzantine building===
The early history of the Cenacle site is uncertain; scholars have attempted to establish a chronology based on archaeological, artistic and historical sources.<ref>For example: Bargil Pixner, "The Church of the Apostles found on Mount Zion," ''Biblical Archaeology Review'' 16.3 May/June 1990 (http://www.centuryone.org/apostles.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309011150/http://www.centuryone.org/apostles.html |date=2018-03-09 }}); David Christian Clausen, ''The Upper Room and Tomb of David: The History, Art and Archaeology of the Cenacle on Mount Zion'' (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2016).</ref>
The early history of the Cenacle site is uncertain; scholars have attempted to establish a chronology based on archaeological, artistic and historical sources.<ref>For example: Bargil Pixner, "The Church of the Apostles found on Mount Zion," ''Biblical Archaeology Review'' 16.3 May/June 1990 (http://www.centuryone.org/apostles.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309011150/http://www.centuryone.org/apostles.html |date=2018-03-09 }}); David Christian Clausen, ''The Upper Room and Tomb of David: The History, Art and Archaeology of the Cenacle on Mount Zion'' (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2016).</ref>


Based on the survey conducted by Jacob Pinkerfeld in 1948,<ref>Jacob Pinkerfeld, "'David's Tomb': Notes on the History of the Building: Preliminary Report," ''Bulletin of the Louis Rabinowitz Fund for the Exploration of Ancient Synagogues'' 3, ed. Michael Avi-Yonah (Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1960): 41-43.</ref> Pixner believes that the original building was a [[synagogue]] later probably used by [[Jewish Christians]]. However, no architectural features associated with early synagogues such as columns, benches, or other accoutrements are present in the lower Tomb chamber.<ref>Clausen, 168-175</ref> According to [[Epiphanius of Salamis|Epiphanius]], bishop of [[Salamis, Cyprus|Salamis]] writing towards the end of the 4th century, the building and its environs were spared during the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70)|destruction of Jerusalem]] under [[Titus]] (AD 70).<ref>Epiphanius, ''On Weights and Measures'' 14 (54c).</ref> Pixner suggests that the Mount Zion site was destroyed and rebuilt in the later first century.<ref>Bargil Pixner, ''Paths of the Messiah and Sites of the Early Church from Galilee to Jerusalem: Jesus and Jewish Christianity in Light of Archaeological Discoveries'', ed. Rainer Riesner, trans. Keith Myrick and Sam and Miriam Randall (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010), 332-3.</ref> The lowest courses of [[ashlar]]s (building stones) along the north, east and south walls are attributed by Pinkerfeld to the late Roman period (135-325).<ref>Pinkerfeld, ''Notes''.</ref> Pixner believes that they are [[Herod]]ian-period ashlars, dating the construction of the building to an earlier period.<ref>Pixner, ''Paths'' 333.</ref>
Based on the survey conducted by Jacob Pinkerfeld in 1948,<ref>Jacob Pinkerfeld, "'David's Tomb': Notes on the History of the Building: Preliminary Report," ''Bulletin of the Louis Rabinowitz Fund for the Exploration of Ancient Synagogues'' 3, ed. Michael Avi-Yonah (Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1960): 41-43.</ref> Pixner believes that the original building was a [[synagogue]] later probably used by [[Jewish Christians]]. However, no architectural features associated with early synagogues such as columns, benches, or other accoutrements are present in the lower Tomb chamber.<ref>Clausen, 168-175</ref> According to [[Epiphanius of Salamis|Epiphanius]], bishop of [[Salamis, Cyprus|Salamis]] writing towards the end of the 4th century, the building and its environs were spared during the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70)|destruction of Jerusalem]] under [[Titus]] (AD 70).<ref>Epiphanius, ''On Weights and Measures'' 14 (54c).</ref> Pixner suggests that the Mount Zion site was destroyed and rebuilt in the later first century.<ref>Bargil Pixner, ''Paths of the Messiah and Sites of the Early Church from Galilee to Jerusalem: Jesus and Jewish Christianity in Light of Archaeological Discoveries'', ed. Rainer Riesner, trans. Keith Myrick and Sam and Miriam Randall (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010), 332-3.</ref> The lowest courses of [[ashlar]]s (building stones) along the north, east and south walls are attributed by Pinkerfeld to the late Roman period (135-325).<ref>Pinkerfeld, ''Notes''.</ref> Pixner believes that they are [[Herod the Great|Herodian]]-period ashlars, dating the construction of the building to an earlier period.<ref>Pixner, ''Paths'' 333.</ref>


===Byzantine-period building or buildings===
===Byzantine-period building or buildings===
Line 50: Line 64:
6th-century artistic representations, such as the mosaics found in Madaba, Jordan (the "[[Madaba Map]]") and at the [[Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore]] in Rome, depict a smaller structure to the south of the basilica. Some have identified this smaller structure as the Cenacle, thus demonstrating its independence from, and possible prior existence to, the basilica.<ref>Pixner, ''Paths'' 349; Clausen, 49; Richard Mackowski, ''Jerusalem - City of Jesus: An Exploration of the Traditions, Writings, and Remains of the Holy City from the Time of Christ'' (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), 146.</ref> The basilica (and possibly the Cenacle) was later damaged by [[Sassanid Empire#Second Golden Era (498–622)|Persian invaders]] in 614 but restored by the patriarch [[Modestus of Jerusalem|Modestus]].
6th-century artistic representations, such as the mosaics found in Madaba, Jordan (the "[[Madaba Map]]") and at the [[Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore]] in Rome, depict a smaller structure to the south of the basilica. Some have identified this smaller structure as the Cenacle, thus demonstrating its independence from, and possible prior existence to, the basilica.<ref>Pixner, ''Paths'' 349; Clausen, 49; Richard Mackowski, ''Jerusalem - City of Jesus: An Exploration of the Traditions, Writings, and Remains of the Holy City from the Time of Christ'' (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), 146.</ref> The basilica (and possibly the Cenacle) was later damaged by [[Sassanid Empire#Second Golden Era (498–622)|Persian invaders]] in 614 but restored by the patriarch [[Modestus of Jerusalem|Modestus]].


In 965 the church was burned down after a Muslim mob killed patriarch [[John VII of Jerusalem|John VII]] and then again in 1009 when Fatimid caliph [[Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah|Al-Hakim]] ordered the destruction of all Christian churches in Jerusalem, an event lamented by Arab Christian poet [[Sulayman al-Ghazzi]].{{sfn|Reem|Berkovich|2016|p=60}}<ref name="Noble">{{cite book |last1=Noble |first1=Samuel |editor1-last=Thomas |editor1-first=David |editor2-last=Mallett |editor2-first=Alexander |title=Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History. Volume 2 (900-1050) |date=17 December 2010 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-21618-1 |page=619 |url=https://www.google.es/books/edition/Christian_Muslim_Relations_A_Bibliograph/G-R5DwAAQBAJ |access-date=16 January 2024 |language=en |chapter=Sulayman al-Ghazzi}}</ref>
In 1009, the church was destroyed by the Muslim caliph [[Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah|Al-Hakim]].<ref name="Pringle 262">Pringle 262</ref>


===Crusader-period building===
===Crusader-period building===
[[File:The Cenacle, Last Supper Room - Mount Zion, Jerusalem 18.jpg|thumb|Capital decorated with [[Pelican#Christianity|pelicans, a symbol of Jesus]] in Christian iconography]]
[[File:The Cenacle, Last Supper Room - Mount Zion, Jerusalem 18.jpg|thumb|Capital decorated with [[Pelican#Christianity|pelicans, a symbol of Jesus]] in Christian iconography]]


Shortly afterward, it was replaced by the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem|Crusaders]] with a cathedral named Saint Mary, featuring a central nave and two side aisles. The Cenacle was either repaired or enclosed by the Crusader church, occupying a portion of two aisles on the right (southern) side of the altar.<ref name=Pringle262/> The Crusader cathedral was destroyed soon afterward, in the late 12th or early 13th century, but the Cenacle remained. (Today, part of the site upon which the Byzantine and Crusader churches stood is believed to be occupied by the smaller [[Church of the Dormition]] and its abbey.)
After the [[First Crusade]], the leader of the newly established [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]], [[Godfrey of Bouillon]], re-founded the church as a Latin abbey and in the twelfth century the basilica was rebuild.{{sfn|Reem|Berkovich|2016|p=61}} {{citation needed span |text=The Cenacle was either repaired or enclosed by the Crusader church, occupying a portion of two aisles on the right (southern) side of the altar. The Crusader cathedral was destroyed soon afterward, in the late 12th or early 13th century, but the Cenacle remained. (Today, part of the site upon which the Byzantine and Crusader churches stood is believed to be occupied by the smaller [[Abbey of the Dormition|Church of the Dormition and its abbey]].) |date=October 2023}}


===Under renewed Muslim rule===
===Under renewed Muslim rule===
====Monastery====
Syrian Christians maintained the Cenacle until the 1330s when it passed into the custody of the [[Franciscan Order]] of Friars who managed the structure for almost two centuries.<ref name=Necip>{{cite journal |last=Necipoglu |first=Gülru |title=The Dome of the Rock as Palimpsest |journal=Muqarnas |date=2009 |volume=25 |publisher=Brill |place=Leiden |isbn=978-900417327-9 |page=68|url=https://archnet.org/publications/6779 |quote=the sultan [Suleiman I]'s earliest building project in Jerusalem was Mosque of the Prophet David (''masjid al-nabī dāwūd''), which adjoined that prophet's revered tomb at the Coenaculum in Mount Zion}}</ref>
Syrian Christians maintained the Cenacle until 1337 when it passed into the custody of the [[Franciscan Order]] of Friars who managed the structure for almost two centuries.<ref name=Necip>{{cite journal |last=Necipoglu |first=Gülru |title=The Dome of the Rock as Palimpsest |journal=Muqarnas |date=2009 |volume=25 |publisher=Brill |place=Leiden |isbn=978-900417327-9 |page=68|url=https://archnet.org/publications/6779 |quote=the sultan [Suleiman I]'s earliest building project in Jerusalem was Mosque of the Prophet David (''masjid al-nabī dāwūd''), which adjoined that prophet's revered tomb at the Coenaculum in Mount Zion}}</ref>{{sfn|Reem|Berkovich|2016|p=62}}


====Mosque===={{anchor|Masjid an-Nabi Dawud}}
====Mosque{{anchor|Masjid an-Nabi Dawud}}====
In 1524, during [[Suleiman the Magnificent]]'s rule, Ottoman authorities took possession of the Cenacle, converting it into a mosque: the {{transliteration|ar|Masjid an-Nabī (al-Nabī) Dāwūd|italic=no}} ({{lang|ar|مسجد النبي داوود}} {{literally|Mosque of the Prophet David}}).<ref name=Necip/><ref>{{cite web |title=Masjid and Minaret al-Nabi Dawud |url=http://i2ud.org/j/html3/monuments/sites/t161_minarat_n |website=Institute for International Urban Development}}</ref>
In 1524, during [[Suleiman the Magnificent]]'s rule, Ottoman authorities took possession of the Cenacle, converting it into a mosque: the {{transliteration|ar|Masjid an-Nabī (al-Nabī) Dāwūd|italic=no}} ({{lang|ar|مسجد النبي داوود}} {{literally|Mosque of the Prophet David}}).<ref name=Necip/><ref>{{cite web |title=Masjid and Minaret al-Nabi Dawud |url=http://i2ud.org/j/html3/monuments/sites/t161_minarat_n |website=Institute for International Urban Development}}</ref> By 1551 the Franciscans had been fully evicted from their surrounding buildings. Non-Muslims were banned from entering though it was possible by bribing the custodians of the Dajani family.{{sfn|Reem|Berkovich|2016|p=62}}


Only in 1831 were Christians again allowed to celebrate mass in the cenacle though visits, such as that of [[Melchior de Vogüé]], were dependant on the goodwill of the guardian.{{sfn|Reem|Berkovich|2016|p=62}}
The Franciscans were evicted from their surrounding buildings in 1550. Architectural evidence remains of the period of Muslim control including the elaborate [[mihrab]] in the Last Supper room, the Arabic inscriptions on its walls, the [[qubba]] over the stairwell, and the minaret and dome atop the roof.


===British Mandate and Israel===
===British Mandate and Israel===
During the [[British Mandate-Palestine|British Mandate]], Christians and Jews were allowed greater freedom in visiting their respective holy sites in the complex.{{sfn|Reem|Berkovich|2016|p=62}} The historical building is currently managed by the [[Ministry of Interior (Israel)|Israeli Ministry of the Interior]].{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} [[Pope John Paul II]] celebrated mass in the Cenacle during his pilgrimage to Israel in the year 2000.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McNamer |first1=Elizabeth Mary |last2=Pixner |first2=Bargil |title=Jesus and First-Century Christianity in Jerusalem |date=2008 |publisher=Paulist Press |isbn=978-0-8091-4523-2 |page=69 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Jesus_and_First_Century_Christianity_in/ErEBBfJ-TmsC |access-date=18 March 2024 |language=en}}</ref>
Christians were not allowed to return until the establishment of the [[State of Israel]] in 1948.{{dubious|reason=Unlikely that limited access not prrmitted, at the latest under the Brits. Source?|date=October 2023}} The historical building is currently managed by the [[Ministry of Interior (Israel)|Israeli Ministry of the Interior]].{{cn|date=October 2023}}


==Historical worship and relics==
===Column of the Flagellation===
===Column of the Flagellation===
Pilgrim [[Egeria]], who visited the site in the 4th century, described the presence in the Cenacle of the [[Flagellation of Jesus|Column of the Flagellation]], which was venerated there at dawn on [[Good Friday]].<ref name=CHL20>[https://www.custodia.org/en/news/holy-wednesday-jerusalem-veneration-column Holy Wednesday in Jerusalem: veneration of the holy Column] at the website of the Franciscan [[Custody of the Holy Land]]. Accessed 6 Oct 2023.</ref> In the 14th century, the Column of the Flagellation was removed from the Cenacle and taken to the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]].<ref name=CHL20/>
Pilgrim [[Egeria (pilgrim)|Egeria]], who visited the site in the 4th century, described the presence in the Cenacle of the [[Flagellation of Jesus|Column of the Flagellation]], which was venerated there at dawn on [[Good Friday]].<ref name=CHL20>[https://www.custodia.org/en/news/holy-wednesday-jerusalem-veneration-column Holy Wednesday in Jerusalem: veneration of the holy Column] at the website of the Franciscan [[Custody of the Holy Land]]. Accessed 6 Oct 2023.</ref> In the 14th century, the Column of the Flagellation was removed from the Cenacle and taken to the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]].<ref name=CHL20/>

==Architecture and date (12th, 13th, 14th c.?)==
Scholars offer wide-ranging dates and builders for the surviving Gothic-style Cenacle. Some believe that it was constructed by [[Crusaders]] just before [[Saladin]]'s conquest of Jerusalem in 1187, while others attribute it to [[Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II]], after he arrived in the city in 1229. Still others hold that it was not built in this form until the Franciscans acquired the site in the 1330s.<ref>Hugh Plommer has written in favor of a date prior to 1187. See "The Cenacle on Mount Sion" in ''Crusader Art in the Twelfth Century'', edited by Jaroslav Folda (Oxford: B.A.R., 1982) pp. 139–166. Camille Enlart supports a date after 1229. See ''Les monuments des croisés dans le royaume de Jérusalem; architecture religieuse et civile'' (Paris: P. Geuthner, 1925). Peter Fergusson believes that the structure dates from the 12th century but was heavily modified by the Franciscans in the 14th century. See "The Refectory at Easby Abbey: Form and Iconography." In ''The Art Bulletin'', Vol. 71, No. 3 (Sep., 1989), pp. 334–351. The Franciscans themselves take credit for the building. See Fr. Eugene Hoade, Guide to the Holy Land (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1971).</ref> Scarce documentation and disturbed structural features offer little strong support for any of these dates.<ref>Pilgrimage accounts are vague. See the accounts of Daniel the Abbot and John of Wuerzburg in ''Jerusalem Pilgrimage 1099–1185'', edited by John Wilkinson, Joyce Hill, and William H. Ryan (London: Hakluyt Society, 1988). Each describes the Cenacle simply as an "upper room" with no precise architectural consideration.</ref>

===Early modern assessments===
The primary early modern assessments of the Cenacle were recorded by French archaeologists. The first detailed assessment was by [[Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé]] in 1860.<ref name="Vogüé1860">{{cite book|author=Melchior marquis de Vogüé|title=Les églises de la Terre Sainte|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Up4aAAAAYAAJ|year=1860|publisher=Librairie de Victor Didron|page=322}}</ref> This was largely followed by other commentators until the work of [[Camille Enlart]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://digital-archive.lau.edu.lb/LCF-Cardahi/DocView.aspx?dbid=0&id=4253&page=5&cr=1 | title=Error }}</ref> and [[Louis-Hugues Vincent]] / [[Félix-Marie Abel]].{{sfn|Reem|Berkovich|2016}}<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/jrusalemrecher02vincuoft/page/469 | title=Jérusalem; recherches de topographie, d'archéologie et d'histoire | year=1912 | publisher=Paris, Gabalda }}</ref>

===Layout===
In its current state, the Cenacle is divided into six rib-vaulted bays. The bays are supported by three freestanding columns which bilaterally divide the space, as well as six pillars flanking the side walls. While the capital of the westernmost freestanding column is flush with the Cenacle's interior wall, the column shaft itself is completely independent of the wall, leading scholars to consider the possibility that this wall was not original to the building.<ref>Plommer 169</ref>

===Capitals and columns===
An analysis of the column and pillar capitals offers clues, but not a solution, to the mystery of the current building's origin. The Corinthianesque capital between the second and third bays of the Cenacle is stylistically indicative of multiple geographical regions and chronological periods. This capital's spiky leaves, which tightly adhere to the volume of the column before erupting into scrolls, are in congruence with common outputs of the 12th-century sculpture workshop at the Temple site in Jerusalem in the last years before Saladin's conquest in 1187.<ref>See Zehava Jacoby, "The Workshop of the Temple Area in Jerusalem in the Twelfth Century: its Origin, Evolution, and Impact", ''Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte'', 45 Bd., H. 4 (1982), 325–394. Drilling is discussed on p. 362.</ref> The workshop also frequently utilized drilling as an ornamental device. The Jerusalem workshop included artists from diverse regions in the West, who brought stylistic traits with them from their native countries. The workshop produced sculpture for many Crusader projects and other structures, such as the [[Qibli Mosque|al-Aqsa mosque]].

This comparison allows for the support of the 12th century date of the Cenacle. There are also, however, similar capitals which originated in workshops in southern Italy, a draw for scholars who wish to associate the building with Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and the Sixth Crusade in 1229. Examples can be seen in the Romanesque cathedral in [[Bitonto]], a small city near Bari, in southern Italy, and on the columns of the [[pulpit in the Pisa Baptistery]], carved by the Apulian-born sculptor Nicola Pisano in 1260.

The capitals of the freestanding columns are not identical. The capital between the first and second bays seems either severely weathered or shallowly carved, and its volume is a marked contrast from the others. It rises from the shaft in a straight cylinder, rather than in an inverted pyramid, and then flares only just before it intersects with the abacus. The third capital, which now flanks the Cenacle's western wall, is also unique among the three. It is not decorated with a floral motif, rather, scrolling crockets spring from the base of the volume. Enlart has proposed a comparison to buildings constructed by Frederick II in Apulia.<ref>Enlart 258.</ref>

Analysis of these column capitals does not yield significant evidence to link them to the 14th century and a potential Franciscan construction, nor does it definitively date them to the 12th or 13th century. The building remains a frustrating, but intriguing, mystery.

==Muslim architectural elements==
Architectural evidence remains of the period of Muslim control including the elaborate [[mihrab]] in the Last Supper room, the Arabic inscriptions on its walls, the [[qubba]] over the stairwell, and the minaret and dome atop the roof.{{sfn|Reem|Berkovich|2016|p=62}}


==Architecture==
{{multiple image
{{multiple image
|footer = The two [[stained glass]] windows, with an inscription: {{lang-ar|فَاحْكُم بَيْنَ النَّاسِ بِالْحَقِّ وَلَا تَتَّبِعِ الْهَوَىٰ|lit=judge between the people in truth and do not follow [your own] desire}}, from {{qref|38|26|b=y}}, known as the "[[Ṣād (surah)#Verses 17-26: Story of David and the Two Litigants|Story of David and the Two Litigants]]"<ref>DÜŞÜNCE VE TARİH, August 2016, Dr. Mehmet TÜTÜNCÜ, "Kudüs ve Sultan I. Süleyman"[http://www.ozelburoistihbarat.com/Content/images/archieve/tarih-kuduste-ilk-osmanli-eseri-sultan-suleyman-camisi-ya-da-hazreti-davud-mak-8a7fb4a7-ad35-42e8-ab43-4f31d20ef180.pdf]; Also at [https://www.academia.edu/28803010/Kudüs_te_İlk_Osmanlı_Eseri_Sultan_Süleyman_Camisi_ya_da_Hazreti_Davud_Makamı_ve_Son_Yemek_Kilisesi]</ref>
|footer = The two [[stained glass]] windows, with an inscription: {{lang-ar|فَاحْكُم بَيْنَ النَّاسِ بِالْحَقِّ وَلَا تَتَّبِعِ الْهَوَىٰ|lit=judge between the people in truth and do not follow [your own] desire}}, from {{qref|38|26|b=y}}, known as the "[[Ṣād (surah)#Verses 17-26: Story of David and the Two Litigants|Story of David and the Two Litigants]]"<ref>DÜŞÜNCE VE TARİH, August 2016, Dr. Mehmet TÜTÜNCÜ, "Kudüs ve Sultan I. Süleyman"[http://www.ozelburoistihbarat.com/Content/images/archieve/tarih-kuduste-ilk-osmanli-eseri-sultan-suleyman-camisi-ya-da-hazreti-davud-mak-8a7fb4a7-ad35-42e8-ab43-4f31d20ef180.pdf]; Also at [https://www.academia.edu/28803010/Kudüs_te_İlk_Osmanlı_Eseri_Sultan_Süleyman_Camisi_ya_da_Hazreti_Davud_Makamı_ve_Son_Yemek_Kilisesi]</ref>
Line 80: Line 116:
|caption2 = Right window
|caption2 = Right window
|width2 = 125
|width2 = 125
}}{{Empty section|date=November 2023}}{{multiple image
}}
{{multiple image
| footer = The two [[Arabic calligraphy]] inscriptions
| footer = The two [[Arabic calligraphy]] inscriptions
| image1 = Cenacle inscription.jpg
| image1 = Cenacle inscription.jpg
Line 103: Line 138:
|align =
|align =
}}
}}
Scholars offer wide-ranging dates and builders for the surviving Gothic-style Cenacle. Some believe that it was constructed by Crusaders just before Saladin's conquest of Jerusalem in 1187, while others attribute it to [[Holy Roman Emperor]] Frederick II, after he arrived in the city in 1229. Still others hold that it was not built in this form until the Franciscans acquired the site in the 1330s.<ref>Hugh Plommer has written in favor of a date prior to 1187. See "The Cenacle on Mount Sion" in ''Crusader Art in the Twelfth Century'', edited by Jaroslav Folda (Oxford: B.A.R., 1982) pp. 139–166. Camille Enlart supports a date after 1229. See ''Les monuments des croisés dans le royaume de Jérusalem; architecture religieuse et civile'' (Paris: P. Geuthner, 1925). Peter Fergusson believes that the structure dates from the 12th century but was heavily modified by the Franciscans in the 14th century. See "The Refectory at Easby Abbey: Form and Iconography." In ''The Art Bulletin'', Vol. 71, No. 3 (Sep., 1989), pp. 334–351. The Franciscans themselves take credit for the building. See Fr. Eugene Hoade, Guide to the Holy Land (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1971).</ref> Scarce documentation and disturbed structural features offer little strong support for any of these dates.<ref>Pilgrimage accounts are vague. See the accounts of Daniel the Abbot and John of Wuerzburg in ''Jerusalem Pilgrimage 1099–1185'', edited by John Wilkinson, Joyce Hill, and William H. Ryan (London: Hakluyt Society, 1988). Each describes the Cenacle simply as an "upper room" with no precise architectural consideration.</ref>

===Archaeology===
The primary early modern assessments of the Cenacle were recorded by French archaeologists. The first detailed assessment was by [[Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé]] in 1860.<ref name="Vogüé1860">{{cite book|author=Melchior marquis de Vogüé|title=Les églises de la Terre Sainte|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Up4aAAAAYAAJ|year=1860|publisher=Librairie de Victor Didron|page=322}}</ref> This was largely followed by other commentators until the work of [[Camille Enlart]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://digital-archive.lau.edu.lb/LCF-Cardahi/DocView.aspx?dbid=0&id=4253&page=5&cr=1 | title=Error }}</ref> and [[Louis-Hugues Vincent]] / [[Félix-Marie Abel]].<ref>[http://www.academia.edu/29647559/New_Discoveries_in_the_Cenacle_Reassessing_the_Art_Architecture_and_Chronology_of_the_Crusader_Basilica_on_Mount_Sion New Discoveries in the Cenacle: Reassessing the Art, Architecture and Chronology of the Crusader Basilica on Mount Sion], Ilya Berkovich and Amit Reem</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/jrusalemrecher02vincuoft/page/469 | title=Jérusalem; recherches de topographie, d'archéologie et d'histoire | year=1912 | publisher=Paris, Gabalda }}</ref>

===Capitals and columns===
In its current state, the Cenacle is divided into six rib-vaulted bays. The bays are supported by three freestanding columns which bilaterally divide the space, as well as six pillars flanking the side walls. While the capital of the westernmost freestanding column is flush with the Cenacle's interior wall, the column shaft itself is completely independent of the wall, leading scholars to consider the possibility that this wall was not original to the building.<ref>Plommer 169</ref>

An analysis of the column and pillar capitals offers clues, but not a solution, to the mystery of the current building's origin. The Corinthianesque capital between the second and third bays of the Cenacle is stylistically indicative of multiple geographical regions and chronological periods. This capital's spiky leaves, which tightly adhere to the volume of the column before erupting into scrolls, are in congruence with common outputs of the 12th-century sculpture workshop at the Temple site in Jerusalem in the last years before Saladin's conquest in 1187.<ref>See Zehava Jacoby, "The Workshop of the Temple Area in Jerusalem in the Twelfth Century: its Origin, Evolution, and Impact", ''Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte'', 45 Bd., H. 4 (1982), 325–394. Drilling is discussed on p. 362.</ref> The workshop also frequently utilized drilling as an ornamental device. The Jerusalem workshop included artists from diverse regions in the West, who brought stylistic traits with them from their native countries. The workshop produced sculpture for many Crusader projects and other structures, such as the [[Qibli Mosque|al-Aqsa mosque]].

This comparison allows for the support of the 12th century date of the Cenacle. There are also, however, similar capitals which originated in workshops in southern Italy, a draw for scholars who wish to associate the building with Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and the Sixth Crusade in 1229. Examples can be seen in the Romanesque cathedral in [[Bitonto]], a small city near Bari, in southern Italy, and on column supports of the pulpit in the Pisa Baptistery, carved by Apulian-born sculptor Nicola Pisano around 1260.

The capitals of the freestanding columns are not identical. The capital between the first and second bays seems either severely weathered or shallowly carved, and its volume is a marked contrast from the others. It rises from the shaft in a straight cylinder, rather than in an inverted pyramid, and then flares only just before it intersects with the abacus. The third capital, which now flanks the Cenacle's western wall, is also unique among the three. It is not decorated with a floral motif, rather, scrolling crockets spring from the base of the volume. Enlart has proposed a comparison to buildings constructed by Frederick II in Apulia.<ref>Enlart 258.</ref>

Analysis of these column capitals does not yield significant evidence to link them to the 14th century and a potential Franciscan construction, nor does it definitively date them to the 12th or 13th century. The building remains a frustrating, but intriguing, mystery.


==References in hymns==
==References in hymns==
The upper room is a focus of reference in several Christian [[hymn]]s, for example in "An upper room did our Lord prepare", written by [[Fred Pratt Green]] in 1973,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hymnary.org/text/an_upper_room_did_our_lord_prepare|title=An Upper Room Did Our Lord Prepare|work=Hymnary.org}}</ref> and in "Come, risen Lord, and deign to be our guest" ('We meet, as in that upper room they met...'),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hymnary.org/text/come_risen_lord_and_deign_to_be_our_gues|title=Come, Risen Lord, and Deign to be Our Guest|work=Hymnary.org}}</ref> written by [[G. W. Briggs|George Wallace Briggs]].
The upper room is a focus of reference in several Christian [[hymn]]s, for example in "An upper room did our Lord prepare", written by [[Fred Pratt Green]] in 1973,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hymnary.org/text/an_upper_room_did_our_lord_prepare|title=An Upper Room Did Our Lord Prepare|work=Hymnary.org}}</ref> and in "Come, risen Lord, and deign to be our guest" ('We meet, as in that upper room they met...'),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hymnary.org/text/come_risen_lord_and_deign_to_be_our_gues|title=Come, Risen Lord, and Deign to be Our Guest|work=Hymnary.org}}</ref> written by [[G. W. Briggs|George Wallace Briggs]].


==Other sites==
==Alternative site==
The [[Monastery of Saint Mark]] in the [[Old City of Jerusalem]] near the [[Armenian Quarter]] is sometime considered as alternative place for the Cenacle. The monastery church, belonging to the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]], contains an early Christian stone inscription testifying to reverence for the spot.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Tourist+Information/Christian+Themes/Details/Saint+Marks+Syrian+Orthodox+Church++chr.htm|work=www.goisrael.com|publisher=Israel Ministry of Tourism|title=Saint Mark's Syrian Orthodox Church|access-date=20 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226060609/http://www.goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Tourist+Information/Christian+Themes/Details/Saint+Marks+Syrian+Orthodox+Church++chr.htm|archive-date=26 December 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>
The [[Monastery of Saint Mark]] in the [[Old City of Jerusalem]] near the [[Armenian Quarter]] is considered by some as the authentic site of the Last Supper. The monastery church, belonging to the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]], contains an early Christian stone inscription testifying to reverence for the spot.<ref>{{cite web |title= Saint Mark's Syrian Orthodox Church |work= goisrael.com |publisher= Israel Ministry of Tourism |url= http://www.goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Tourist+Information/Christian+Themes/Details/Saint+Marks+Syrian+Orthodox+Church++chr.htm |access-date=20 June 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081226060609/http://www.goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Tourist+Information/Christian+Themes/Details/Saint+Marks+Syrian+Orthodox+Church++chr.htm |archive-date=26 December 2008 |url-status= dead}}</ref>
{{Clear}}


==See also==
==See also==
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{{Reflist|colwidth=35em}}
{{Reflist|colwidth=35em}}


==Further reading==
==Sources==
* Pierotti, Ermete, 1864, [https://archive.org/details/gri_33125012261307/page/n227 Jerusalem explored: being a description of the ancient and modern city, with numerous illustrations consisting of views, ground plans, and sections]
* Pierotti, Ermete, 1864, [https://archive.org/details/gri_33125012261307/page/n227 Jerusalem explored: being a description of the ancient and modern city, with numerous illustrations consisting of views, ground plans, and sections]
* {{cite journal |last1=Reem |first1=Amit |last2=Berkovich |first2=Ilya |title=New Discoveries in the Cenacle: Reassessing the Art, Architecture and Chronology of the Crusader Basilica on Mount Sion |journal=New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and its Region |date=January 2016 |volume=X |pages=56–92 |url=https://www.academia.edu/29647559/New_Discoveries_in_the_Cenacle_Reassessing_the_Art_Architecture_and_Chronology_of_the_Crusader_Basilica_on_Mount_Sion |access-date=18 March 2024}}


==External links==
==External links==
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{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Coord|31.7718|35.229|type:landmark_region:IL-JM_source:dewiki|format=dms|display=title}}
{{Coord|31.7718|35.229|type:landmark_region:IL-JM_source:dewiki|format=dms|display=title}}

[[Category:Christianity in Jerusalem]]
[[Category:Christianity in Jerusalem]]
[[Category:Shrines in Jerusalem]]
[[Category:Shrines in Jerusalem]]

Latest revision as of 22:41, 25 March 2024

Cenacle on Mount Zion

The Cenacle (from the Latin cenaculum, "dining room"), also known as the Upper Room (from the Koine Greek anagaion and hyperōion, both meaning "upper room"), is a room in Mount Zion in Jerusalem, just outside the Old City walls, traditionally held to be the site of the Last Supper, the final meal that, in the Gospel accounts, Jesus held with the apostles.

According to the Christian Bible, the Cenacle was a place in which the apostles continued to gather after the Last Supper, and it was also the site where the Holy Spirit alighted upon the eleven apostles on Pentecost.[1]

The site is administered by the Israeli authorities, and is part of a building holding the so-called "David's Tomb" on its ground floor.

Etymology[edit]

"Cenacle" is a derivative of the Latin word ceno, which means "I dine". Jerome used the Latin coenaculum for both Greek words in his Latin Vulgate translation.

"Upper room" is derived from the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Luke, which both employ the Koine Greek: anagaion (ἀνάγαιον, Mark 14:15[2] and Luke 22:12),[3] whereas the Acts of the Apostles uses the Koine Greek hyperōion (ὑπερῷον, Acts 1:13),[4] both with the meaning "upper room".

Overview[edit]

A 1472 map of Jerusalem notes the place of the pentecost, "Ubi apostoli acceperunt spiritum sanctum", at the location of the cenacle (top left).

The building has experienced numerous cycles of destruction and reconstruction, culminating in the Gothic structure which stands today.

Foundational events from the Gospels[edit]

The Cenacle is considered the site where many major events described in the New Testament took place,[5][6] such as:

In Christian tradition, the room was not only the site of the Last Supper, i.e., the Cenacle, but the room in which the Holy Spirit alighted upon the twelve apostles and other believers gathered and praying together on Pentecost. Acts 1-2 tell us that Judas had been replaced by Matthias, and 120 followers of Jesus gathered in this room after His ascension.

Theories regarding Apostolic Age[edit]

It is sometimes thought to be the place where the apostles stayed in Jerusalem. The language in Acts of the Apostles suggests that the apostles used the room as a temporary residence (Koine Greek: οὗ ἦσαν καταμένοντες, hou ēsan katamenontes),[1] although the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary disagrees, preferring to see the room as a place where they were "not lodged, but had for their meeting place".[9][10]

Dormition of Mary[edit]

The general location of the Cenacle is also associated with that of the house where the Virgin Mary lived among the apostles until her death or dormition, an event celebrated in the nearby Church of the Dormition.

Early building[edit]

Pilgrims to Jerusalem report visiting a structure on Mount Zion commemorating the Last Supper since the 4th century AD. Some scholars would have it that this was the Cenacle, in fact a synagogue from an earlier time. The anonymous pilgrim from Bordeaux, France reported seeing such a synagogue in 333.[11] A Christian synagogue is mentioned in the apocryphal 4th-century Anaphora Pilati ("Report of Pilate"); although the depiction is fantastic and of questionable reliability (the report claims that all of the other synagogues were destroyed by divine wrath immediately after Jesus's death), a Jewish origin for the building has come under serious question.

The "Tomb of King David"[edit]

While the term Cenacle refers only to the Upper Room, a niche located on the lower level of the same building is associated by tradition with the burial site of King David, marked by a large cenotaph-sarcophagus that dates to the 12th-century,[12] but earlier mentioned in the 10th-century Vita Constantini.[13][clarification needed] Most accept the notice in 1 Kings 2:10 that says that David was buried "in the City of David", identified as the Eastern hill of ancient Jerusalem, as opposed to what is today called Mount Sion, the Western hill of the ancient city.

History[edit]

Theoretical pre-Byzantine building[edit]

The early history of the Cenacle site is uncertain; scholars have attempted to establish a chronology based on archaeological, artistic and historical sources.[14]

Based on the survey conducted by Jacob Pinkerfeld in 1948,[15] Pixner believes that the original building was a synagogue later probably used by Jewish Christians. However, no architectural features associated with early synagogues such as columns, benches, or other accoutrements are present in the lower Tomb chamber.[16] According to Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis writing towards the end of the 4th century, the building and its environs were spared during the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus (AD 70).[17] Pixner suggests that the Mount Zion site was destroyed and rebuilt in the later first century.[18] The lowest courses of ashlars (building stones) along the north, east and south walls are attributed by Pinkerfeld to the late Roman period (135-325).[19] Pixner believes that they are Herodian-period ashlars, dating the construction of the building to an earlier period.[20]

Byzantine-period building or buildings[edit]

Many scholars, however, date the walls' earliest construction to the Byzantine period and identify the Cenacle as the remains of a no-longer-extant Hagia Sion ("Holy Zion") basilica.[21] Emperor Theodosius I constructed the five-aisled Hagia Sion basilica, likely between 379 and 381.[22]

6th-century artistic representations, such as the mosaics found in Madaba, Jordan (the "Madaba Map") and at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, depict a smaller structure to the south of the basilica. Some have identified this smaller structure as the Cenacle, thus demonstrating its independence from, and possible prior existence to, the basilica.[23] The basilica (and possibly the Cenacle) was later damaged by Persian invaders in 614 but restored by the patriarch Modestus.

In 965 the church was burned down after a Muslim mob killed patriarch John VII and then again in 1009 when Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim ordered the destruction of all Christian churches in Jerusalem, an event lamented by Arab Christian poet Sulayman al-Ghazzi.[24][25]

Crusader-period building[edit]

Capital decorated with pelicans, a symbol of Jesus in Christian iconography

After the First Crusade, the leader of the newly established Kingdom of Jerusalem, Godfrey of Bouillon, re-founded the church as a Latin abbey and in the twelfth century the basilica was rebuild.[26] The Cenacle was either repaired or enclosed by the Crusader church, occupying a portion of two aisles on the right (southern) side of the altar. The Crusader cathedral was destroyed soon afterward, in the late 12th or early 13th century, but the Cenacle remained. (Today, part of the site upon which the Byzantine and Crusader churches stood is believed to be occupied by the smaller Church of the Dormition and its abbey.)[citation needed]

Under renewed Muslim rule[edit]

Monastery[edit]

Syrian Christians maintained the Cenacle until 1337 when it passed into the custody of the Franciscan Order of Friars who managed the structure for almost two centuries.[27][28]

Mosque[edit]

In 1524, during Suleiman the Magnificent's rule, Ottoman authorities took possession of the Cenacle, converting it into a mosque: the Masjid an-Nabī (al-Nabī) Dāwūd (مسجد النبي داوود lit.'Mosque of the Prophet David').[27][29] By 1551 the Franciscans had been fully evicted from their surrounding buildings. Non-Muslims were banned from entering though it was possible by bribing the custodians of the Dajani family.[28]

Only in 1831 were Christians again allowed to celebrate mass in the cenacle though visits, such as that of Melchior de Vogüé, were dependant on the goodwill of the guardian.[28]

British Mandate and Israel[edit]

During the British Mandate, Christians and Jews were allowed greater freedom in visiting their respective holy sites in the complex.[28] The historical building is currently managed by the Israeli Ministry of the Interior.[citation needed] Pope John Paul II celebrated mass in the Cenacle during his pilgrimage to Israel in the year 2000.[30]

Historical worship and relics[edit]

Column of the Flagellation[edit]

Pilgrim Egeria, who visited the site in the 4th century, described the presence in the Cenacle of the Column of the Flagellation, which was venerated there at dawn on Good Friday.[31] In the 14th century, the Column of the Flagellation was removed from the Cenacle and taken to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.[31]

Architecture and date (12th, 13th, 14th c.?)[edit]

Scholars offer wide-ranging dates and builders for the surviving Gothic-style Cenacle. Some believe that it was constructed by Crusaders just before Saladin's conquest of Jerusalem in 1187, while others attribute it to Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, after he arrived in the city in 1229. Still others hold that it was not built in this form until the Franciscans acquired the site in the 1330s.[32] Scarce documentation and disturbed structural features offer little strong support for any of these dates.[33]

Early modern assessments[edit]

The primary early modern assessments of the Cenacle were recorded by French archaeologists. The first detailed assessment was by Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé in 1860.[34] This was largely followed by other commentators until the work of Camille Enlart[35] and Louis-Hugues Vincent / Félix-Marie Abel.[36][37]

Layout[edit]

In its current state, the Cenacle is divided into six rib-vaulted bays. The bays are supported by three freestanding columns which bilaterally divide the space, as well as six pillars flanking the side walls. While the capital of the westernmost freestanding column is flush with the Cenacle's interior wall, the column shaft itself is completely independent of the wall, leading scholars to consider the possibility that this wall was not original to the building.[38]

Capitals and columns[edit]

An analysis of the column and pillar capitals offers clues, but not a solution, to the mystery of the current building's origin. The Corinthianesque capital between the second and third bays of the Cenacle is stylistically indicative of multiple geographical regions and chronological periods. This capital's spiky leaves, which tightly adhere to the volume of the column before erupting into scrolls, are in congruence with common outputs of the 12th-century sculpture workshop at the Temple site in Jerusalem in the last years before Saladin's conquest in 1187.[39] The workshop also frequently utilized drilling as an ornamental device. The Jerusalem workshop included artists from diverse regions in the West, who brought stylistic traits with them from their native countries. The workshop produced sculpture for many Crusader projects and other structures, such as the al-Aqsa mosque.

This comparison allows for the support of the 12th century date of the Cenacle. There are also, however, similar capitals which originated in workshops in southern Italy, a draw for scholars who wish to associate the building with Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and the Sixth Crusade in 1229. Examples can be seen in the Romanesque cathedral in Bitonto, a small city near Bari, in southern Italy, and on the columns of the pulpit in the Pisa Baptistery, carved by the Apulian-born sculptor Nicola Pisano in 1260.

The capitals of the freestanding columns are not identical. The capital between the first and second bays seems either severely weathered or shallowly carved, and its volume is a marked contrast from the others. It rises from the shaft in a straight cylinder, rather than in an inverted pyramid, and then flares only just before it intersects with the abacus. The third capital, which now flanks the Cenacle's western wall, is also unique among the three. It is not decorated with a floral motif, rather, scrolling crockets spring from the base of the volume. Enlart has proposed a comparison to buildings constructed by Frederick II in Apulia.[40]

Analysis of these column capitals does not yield significant evidence to link them to the 14th century and a potential Franciscan construction, nor does it definitively date them to the 12th or 13th century. The building remains a frustrating, but intriguing, mystery.

Muslim architectural elements[edit]

Architectural evidence remains of the period of Muslim control including the elaborate mihrab in the Last Supper room, the Arabic inscriptions on its walls, the qubba over the stairwell, and the minaret and dome atop the roof.[28]

Left window
Right window
The two stained glass windows, with an inscription: Arabic: فَاحْكُم بَيْنَ النَّاسِ بِالْحَقِّ وَلَا تَتَّبِعِ الْهَوَىٰ, lit.'judge between the people in truth and do not follow [your own] desire', from Quran 38:26, known as the "Story of David and the Two Litigants"[41]
1524 AD (930 AH) Ottoman datestone commemorating the conversion into a mosque.[42]
Tiled inscription of the Basmala
The two Arabic calligraphy inscriptions
The mihrab
The small canopic dome over the stairs

References in hymns[edit]

The upper room is a focus of reference in several Christian hymns, for example in "An upper room did our Lord prepare", written by Fred Pratt Green in 1973,[43] and in "Come, risen Lord, and deign to be our guest" ('We meet, as in that upper room they met...'),[44] written by George Wallace Briggs.

Alternative site[edit]

The Monastery of Saint Mark in the Old City of Jerusalem near the Armenian Quarter is considered by some as the authentic site of the Last Supper. The monastery church, belonging to the Syriac Orthodox Church, contains an early Christian stone inscription testifying to reverence for the spot.[45]

See also[edit]

  • Church of Zion, Jerusalem or Church of the Apostles on Mount Zion, Roman-era church or synagogue speculated to have belonged to an early Jewish-Christian congregation

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on Acts 1, accessed 24 September 2016: "The eleven were the tenants of the upper room, to which the other disciples resorted for conference and communion".
  2. ^ Mark 14:15
  3. ^ Luke 22:12
  4. ^ Acts 1:13
  5. ^ "The Cenacle". Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. Archived from the original on 2008-09-15. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  6. ^ "The Coenaculum". www.goisrael.com. Israel Ministry of Tourism. Archived from the original on 2009-06-21. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  7. ^ Luke 22:13
  8. ^ John 13:4–11
  9. ^ Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary on Acts 1, accessed 24 September 2016
  10. ^ Fortescue, A. (1910). "Jerusalem (A.D. 71-1099)". In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved January 26, 2020 from New Advent. "During the first Christian centuries the church at this place was the centre of Christianity in Jerusalem, "Holy and glorious Sion, mother of all churches" (Intercession in "St. James' Liturgy", ed. Brightman, p. 54). Certainly no spot in Christendom can be more venerable than the place of the Last Supper, which became the first Christian church."
  11. ^ Clausen, David Christian (2016). The Upper Room and Tomb of David: The History, Art and Archaeology of the Cenacle on Mount Zion. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 29. ISBN 978-1-4766-6305-0.
  12. ^ Reem & Berkovich 2016, p. 74.
  13. ^ Vita Constantini 11.
  14. ^ For example: Bargil Pixner, "The Church of the Apostles found on Mount Zion," Biblical Archaeology Review 16.3 May/June 1990 (http://www.centuryone.org/apostles.html Archived 2018-03-09 at the Wayback Machine); David Christian Clausen, The Upper Room and Tomb of David: The History, Art and Archaeology of the Cenacle on Mount Zion (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2016).
  15. ^ Jacob Pinkerfeld, "'David's Tomb': Notes on the History of the Building: Preliminary Report," Bulletin of the Louis Rabinowitz Fund for the Exploration of Ancient Synagogues 3, ed. Michael Avi-Yonah (Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1960): 41-43.
  16. ^ Clausen, 168-175
  17. ^ Epiphanius, On Weights and Measures 14 (54c).
  18. ^ Bargil Pixner, Paths of the Messiah and Sites of the Early Church from Galilee to Jerusalem: Jesus and Jewish Christianity in Light of Archaeological Discoveries, ed. Rainer Riesner, trans. Keith Myrick and Sam and Miriam Randall (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010), 332-3.
  19. ^ Pinkerfeld, Notes.
  20. ^ Pixner, Paths 333.
  21. ^ Joan Taylor, Christians and the Holy Places: The Myth of Jewish-Christian Origins (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), 215; Oskar Skarsaune, In the Shadow of the Temple: Jewish Influences on Early Christianity (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 189; Denys Pringle, The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A Corpus, Vol. 3, The City of Jerusalem (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 272.
  22. ^ David Christian Clausen, The Upper Room and Tomb of David: The History, Art and Archaeology of the Cenacle on Mount Zion (Jefferson , NC: McFarland, 2016), 36.
  23. ^ Pixner, Paths 349; Clausen, 49; Richard Mackowski, Jerusalem - City of Jesus: An Exploration of the Traditions, Writings, and Remains of the Holy City from the Time of Christ (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), 146.
  24. ^ Reem & Berkovich 2016, p. 60.
  25. ^ Noble, Samuel (17 December 2010). "Sulayman al-Ghazzi". In Thomas, David; Mallett, Alexander (eds.). Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History. Volume 2 (900-1050). BRILL. p. 619. ISBN 978-90-04-21618-1. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  26. ^ Reem & Berkovich 2016, p. 61.
  27. ^ a b Necipoglu, Gülru (2009). "The Dome of the Rock as Palimpsest". Muqarnas. 25. Leiden: Brill: 68. ISBN 978-900417327-9. the sultan [Suleiman I]'s earliest building project in Jerusalem was Mosque of the Prophet David (masjid al-nabī dāwūd), which adjoined that prophet's revered tomb at the Coenaculum in Mount Zion
  28. ^ a b c d e Reem & Berkovich 2016, p. 62.
  29. ^ "Masjid and Minaret al-Nabi Dawud". Institute for International Urban Development.
  30. ^ McNamer, Elizabeth Mary; Pixner, Bargil (2008). Jesus and First-Century Christianity in Jerusalem. Paulist Press. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-8091-4523-2. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  31. ^ a b Holy Wednesday in Jerusalem: veneration of the holy Column at the website of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. Accessed 6 Oct 2023.
  32. ^ Hugh Plommer has written in favor of a date prior to 1187. See "The Cenacle on Mount Sion" in Crusader Art in the Twelfth Century, edited by Jaroslav Folda (Oxford: B.A.R., 1982) pp. 139–166. Camille Enlart supports a date after 1229. See Les monuments des croisés dans le royaume de Jérusalem; architecture religieuse et civile (Paris: P. Geuthner, 1925). Peter Fergusson believes that the structure dates from the 12th century but was heavily modified by the Franciscans in the 14th century. See "The Refectory at Easby Abbey: Form and Iconography." In The Art Bulletin, Vol. 71, No. 3 (Sep., 1989), pp. 334–351. The Franciscans themselves take credit for the building. See Fr. Eugene Hoade, Guide to the Holy Land (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1971).
  33. ^ Pilgrimage accounts are vague. See the accounts of Daniel the Abbot and John of Wuerzburg in Jerusalem Pilgrimage 1099–1185, edited by John Wilkinson, Joyce Hill, and William H. Ryan (London: Hakluyt Society, 1988). Each describes the Cenacle simply as an "upper room" with no precise architectural consideration.
  34. ^ Melchior marquis de Vogüé (1860). Les églises de la Terre Sainte. Librairie de Victor Didron. p. 322.
  35. ^ "Error".
  36. ^ Reem & Berkovich 2016.
  37. ^ "Jérusalem; recherches de topographie, d'archéologie et d'histoire". Paris, Gabalda. 1912.
  38. ^ Plommer 169
  39. ^ See Zehava Jacoby, "The Workshop of the Temple Area in Jerusalem in the Twelfth Century: its Origin, Evolution, and Impact", Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 45 Bd., H. 4 (1982), 325–394. Drilling is discussed on p. 362.
  40. ^ Enlart 258.
  41. ^ DÜŞÜNCE VE TARİH, August 2016, Dr. Mehmet TÜTÜNCÜ, "Kudüs ve Sultan I. Süleyman"[1]; Also at [2]
  42. ^ Mehmet Tütüncü (2006). Turkish Jerusalem (1516-1917): Ottoman Inscriptions from Jerusalem and Other Palestinian Cities. SOTA. p. 33. ISBN 978-90-807403-4-1. In the name of Allah, the Compassionate the merciful. The order to purify and to cleanse of polytheists from this place and to make (here) a mosque so that the name of Allah is celebrated in it, is by the Sultan of mankind, the defender of Islamic faith, the servant of the sacred house (at Mecca), the establisher of Justice and security, the Sultan, son of Sultan, the Sultan Süleyman son of the House of Osman, may Allah support him throughout his life, by the hand of our Master leader of our Sheikhs, al Shams Muhammed al-'ajami the preacher, may Allah carry out blessings through his hands and have mercy upon his parents, on the day of Thursday at the beginning of the month of Rebiulevvel in the year 930 and praise to be Allah alone.
  43. ^ "An Upper Room Did Our Lord Prepare". Hymnary.org.
  44. ^ "Come, Risen Lord, and Deign to be Our Guest". Hymnary.org.
  45. ^ "Saint Mark's Syrian Orthodox Church". goisrael.com. Israel Ministry of Tourism. Archived from the original on 26 December 2008. Retrieved 20 June 2009.

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

31°46′18″N 35°13′44″E / 31.7718°N 35.229°E / 31.7718; 35.229