page_title: Jerusalem in Christianity
section_title: New Testament
hierarchical_section_title: Jerusalem in Christianity / New Testament
caption_attribution_description: English: Jerusalem, Cenacle, the site of The Last Supper on the Mount Zion Deutsch: Jerusalem, Abendmahlsaal auf dem Zion
context_page_description: Jerusalem's role in first-century Christianity, during the ministry of Jesus and the Apostolic Age, as recorded in the New Testament, gives it great importance.
context_section_description: According to the New Testament, Jerusalem was the city to which Jesus was brought as a child, to be presented at the Temple (Luke 2:22) and to attend festivals (Luke 2:41). According to the canonical gospels, Jesus preached and healed in Jerusalem, especially in the Temple Courts. The events of Pentecost in the New Testament Book of Acts also took place at this location. There is also an account of Jesus' cleansing of the Temple at the Temple Court, chasing various traders out of the sacred precincts (Mark 11:15, see also Mark 11). At the end of each of the gospels, there are accounts of Jesus' Last Supper in an "Upper Room" in Jerusalem, his arrest in Gethsemane, his trial, his crucifixion at Golgotha, his burial nearby, his resurrection and ascension, and his prophecy to return.
  The Acts of the Apostles and Pauline epistles show James the Just, the brother of Jesus, as leader of the early Jerusalem church. He and his successors were the focus for Jewish Christians until the destruction of the city by Emperor Hadrian in 135.
  Christian tradition holds that the place of the Last Supper is the Cenacle, on the second floor of a building on Mount Zion where David's Tomb is reportedly on the first floor. Biblical archaeologist Bargil Pixner claims to have found three walls of the original structure still extant today. The place of Jesus' anguished prayer and betrayal, Gethsemane, is probably somewhere near the Church of All Nations on the Mount of Olives. Jesus' trial before Pontius Pilate may have taken place at the Antonia Fortress, to the north of the Temple area. Popularly, the exterior pavement where the trial was conducted is beneath the Convent of the Sisters of Zion. Other Christians believe that Pilate tried Jesus at Herod's Palace on Mount Zion.
  The Via Dolorosa, or way of suffering, is the traditional route to Golgotha, the place of crucifixion, and is an important pilgrimage. The route ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (perhaps the most holy place for Christians). The Holy Sepulchre is traditionally believed to be the location of Golgotha and Jesus' nearby tomb. The original church was built in 336 by Constantine I. The Garden Tomb is a popular pilgrimage site near the Damascus Gate. It was suggested by Charles George Gordon that this site, rather than the Holy Sepulchre, is the true place of Golgotha.
  Jerusalem historian Dan Mazar reported in a series of articles in the Jerusalem Christian Review on the archaeological discoveries made at this location by his grandfather, Professor Benjamin Mazar, which included the 1st-century stairs of ascent, where Jesus and his disciples preached, as well as the mikvaot used by both Jewish and Christian pilgrims. Much of this area was also uncovered by the excavations conducted by the elder Mazar.
caption: The Cenacle on Mount Zion, claimed to be the location of the Last Supper and Pentecost. Bargil Pixner[3] claims the original Church of the Apostles is located under the current structure.
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