Chapel of the Ascension, Jerusalem

The Chapel of the Ascension marks the site whose history reflects Jerusalem’s long cycles of faith and change. Over the centuries, it has been a Christian church, a monastery, and later an Islamic mosque. According to Christian tradition, this is the place where Jesus was taken up into heaven 40 days after the Resurrection. Inside the small octagonal shrine, a footprint impressed in the rock-the last physical mark left at the moment of the Ascension-has been venerated ever since, drawing curious eyes and reverent glances.

Before Christianity received imperial support, early believers gathered nearby in a cave on the Mount of Olives to commemorate this event. Such sheltered spaces offered a degree of safety during periods of persecution and became early centers of worship. Around the year 390, a formal chapel was erected here by Poimenia, a wealthy Roman woman known for her patronage of Christian holy sites. The structure visible today, however, dates mainly to the Crusader period.

After Jerusalem was retaken by Muslims in 1187, the building was converted into a mosque under the Kurdish commander Salah ad-Din, and a mihrab indicating the direction of Mecca was added to the south wall. This shared use is less unusual than it may seem, as Islam also honors Jesus as a prophet.

Just next door, a tiny burial crypt adds another layer to the site’s reputation shared by followers of all three Abrahamic religions. Jews say it belongs to the prophetess Huldah from the 7th century BC. Christians link it to Saint Pelagia, a 5th-century figure known for a dramatic turn from worldly life to repentance. Muslims, meanwhile, associate it with Rabiʿa al-Adawiyya, an 8th-century Sufi mystic.

Different names, different centuries-but the same small space. What we do know is that the Christian tradition of Saint Pelagia is the oldest, quietly underscoring the deep and overlapping layers of devotion that define this place...