104 SCIOPTICON MANUAL. 



mosaic ; the windows like jewelry, of small pieces of 

 Venetian stained glass. Beautiful columns, and an 

 elaborately worked balustrade, surround the holy stone 

 (Es Sakrah, the rock), which Moslems believe to be the 

 centre of the world, suspended from heaven by an invisi- 

 ble golden chain. It is a mass of the native rock of 

 Moriah, the sloping summit or peak of the hill; all the 

 rest of the ridge was cut away when levelling the plat- 

 form for the temple and its courts. 



THE TOWER OP HIPPICUS. The only castle of any 

 particular importance is that at the Jaffa Gate, com- 

 monly called the " Tower of David/' The lower part 

 is built of huge stones, roughly cut, and with a deep 

 bevel around the edges. It is believed by many to bo 

 the Hippicus of Josephus, and to this idea owes its chief 

 importance, for the historian makes that the point of 

 departure in laying down the line of the ancient walls 

 of Jerusalem. 



THE CHURCH or THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. The Church 

 of the Holy Sepulchre is now in the joint possession of 

 all the Eastern Christian sects. Greeks, Latins, Arme- 

 nians, and Copts have each a chapel within its inclos- 

 ures, which embrace the alleged sites of the place of the 

 crucifixion and the tomb of the Kedeemer. It has been 

 built at many different periods, and under various cir- 

 cumstances. 



" The front is. a fine specimen/' says Lord Nugent, 

 "of what is called the later Byzantine style of architec- 

 ture." As lately as 1808, the whole of the principal 

 cupola, and a great part of the church, were destroyed 

 by fire. But some parts, and especially the Greek chapel, 

 occupying the whole of the eastern end of the nave, 

 have been restored with good taste and judgment, and 



