Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives Makes Bloomberg List of World’s Most Beautiful Cemeteries
by Shiryn Ghermezian
The Mount of Olives viewed from the Old City walls of Jerusalem. Photo: Wilson44691/Wikimedia Commons.
The famed Mount of Olives cemetery in Jerusalem was ranked 8th out of 12 on a Bloomberg list published Friday of the most beautiful burial sites in the world.
Bloomberg noted that the ancient burial ground, which overlooks Jerusalem to the west, has been in use for more than 3,000 years and more recently has been running out of space. The cemetery is the resting place of a number of renowned rabbis, Christian prophets and also former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. The news agency called the cemetery “the holiest of Jewish burial sites.”
In the Biblical verse Zechariah 14:4, it says that when the Messiah comes, the resurrection of the dead will begin on the Mount of Olives, making it a highly desirable burial spot for many religious Jews.
