Jerusalem - Chapel of the Ascension

In the Arab village of Et-Tur, within the precincts of a mosque, is the Chapel of the Ascension. The village lies on the road from Jerusalem to Bethany, from which, according to Luke 24,50-51, Christ was carried up into heaven. In the 12th century the Crusaders built a chapel here, later converted by the Muslims into a tall domed building. The chapel was an octagonal structure with pointed arches on all eight sides and a narrow frieze round the top; the chapel was open to the sky, reflecting in its architecture the idea of the Ascension.

The Arab custodian also has the key to a tomb which lies a little to the west, opposite the Pater Noster Church. To the Jews this is the tomb of Huldah, a prophetess who lived in Jerusalem in the time of King Josiah (2 Kings 22,14) and has given her name to the southern doorways of the Temple platform. In Christian tradition - and the one tradition need not exclude the other - this was the cave of St Pelagia of Antioch, a repentant sinner who lived here and died in the year 280.