In the foreground, the tower of the German Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. Beyond it, on the right, the golden Dome of the Rock. On Mount Scopus and the Mount of Olives in the shadowed background, next to the Redeemer’s tower, BYU’s Jerusalem Center, and, to the right of that on the horizon, the towers of the Augusta Victoria Hospital and then the Church of the Ascension
The hilly and elevated character of Jerusalem is one of its most obvious features. (The Latter-day Saint creator of the beloved Christmas carol “Far, Far Away on Judea’s Plains” plainly never visited the Holy Land.) One climbs up to the city, literally and physically.
However, because of its holiness and the longtime presence of the temple there, one also climbs up symbolically:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865627563/Going-up-to-Jerusalem.html
This is a point that I try to emphasize whenever I lead a tour to the land of Israel.
Speaking of which:
Posted from Terricciola, Italy
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