Ascension Chapel (Jerusalem)

Chapel of the Assumption on the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem

Last footprint of Christ in the Ascension Chapel

The Ascension Chapel is located on the highest point of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, east of the Old City . It is located at the point from which - according to tradition - Jesus Christ ascended to heaven ( Acts 1.9 EU ).

history

Even the early Christians commemorated the ascension of Christ in a cave on the Mount of Olives. In 387 a pious Roman woman named Poimenia donated an octagonal church building, which was largely destroyed in 614 by the Persian troops under Chosrau II . At the end of the 7th century, a successor building, open at the top, is mentioned, in which - within an enclosure - the two footprints of Christ could be seen in the dust. This building was also destroyed - probably under the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim in 1009.

The crusaders built the - probably covered - ground floor of today's chapel around the year 1150 over the stone with the 'footprint of the Lord'. After Saladin's conquest of Jerusalem , the building was converted into a mosque in 1187 , which it officially is to this day (Ascension Mosque ). Due to the high number of Christian visitors, Saladin decided to build a new mosque in the immediate vicinity, so that the Ascension Chapel was used almost exclusively by Christians for centuries.

architecture

The chapel is a simple building with a diameter of about 6.60 m, the - externally octagonal - ground floor is surrounded by blind arcades with beautiful Romanesque capitals. The octagon leads over into an octagonal drum with rounded corners from the time of Saladin, which is illuminated by 4 narrow windows ; Above that, a dome - unadorned outside and inside - rounds off the building.

The unadorned round wall inside the building is accentuated by a mihrab niche and two wall niches on both sides. In the floor there is a small rectangular border that reveals the original rock with the - alleged - right footprint of Christ. The edging for the left footprint was placed in the Al-Aqsa Mosque in medieval times .

Others

The Catholics the feast may Ascension Day celebration in the chapel, while the Orthodox Churches need to keep their worship in the courtyard.

Ascension of Muhammad

Some researchers are of the opinion that the octagonal floor plan of the predecessor buildings of today's Ascension Chapel could have served as an architectural model for the - also octagonal - Dome of the Rock (around 700), from which the prophet Mohammed is said to have started his nocturnal journey into heaven .

literature

Erhard Gorys : The Holy Land. Historical and religious sites of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the 10,000 year old cultural land between the Mediterranean, Red Sea and Jordan. DuMont, Cologne 1989, p. 135 ISBN 3-7701-1474-4 .