The slopes of this hill are a large Jewish cemetery used for over 3000 years. There are about 150,000 graves there. According to the tradition in Judaism, the resurrection should begin on the Judgment Day precisely on the Mount of Olives. Those buried here, they will be the first to arise for everlasting life. From the beginning of Christianity, this mountain was also a site of Christian worship and pilgrimage. This is because the Mount of Olives is mentioned many times in the Gospels as the location of several key events in the life of Jesus.
Mount of Olives is a location of Gethsemane, a holly site in Christianity. According to the New Testament, this place was visited many times by Jesus and his disciples, and was the location where Judas denounced Jesus on the night of his arrest. Next to the garden is a Basilica of the Agony also known as the Church of All Nations, a Roman Catholic church built in the 1920’s. The altar between the eight old olive trees in the garden is used by many Christian denominations.
Dominus Flevit, which translates to "the Lord Wept," is a church believed to be standing on the location where Jesus wept openly predicting the future destruction of Jerusalem and the diaspora of the Jewish people. To reflect the mood of that event, the altar inside a church built in the middle of the 20th century, situated is in front of the window with a view of the Jerusalem Old City and the Temple Mount.
Eastern Christians consider the Tomb of Mary to be the Icons in the Crypt, the mother of Jesus. There are differences in the teaching of the Catholic and Eastern Churches in relation to the death and the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. This is because her death is not recorded in the New Testament, and beliefs are based solely on the dogmas of the Church.
