This panoramic viewpoint offers a sweeping view of the city and, in true Jerusalem fashion, is itself replete with thousands of years of history. From the heights of these landscaped walkways and parks, you can enjoy the full splendor of the city of Jerusalem spread out at your feet. The view is especially resplendent in the glow of dusk, when Jerusalem’s white stones shimmer with a golden hue.
There’s more to this area than simply the view – although the view has played a part in its history. The high ridge along which the promenades run lies to the south of the city. Today is called Armon Hanetziv – the palace of the commissioner – for the residence built here by the British in the 1930s as the home of the High Commissioner. But its first mention may be in the Bible: ‘Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here …”‘ (Genesis 22:4-5). Tradition has it that this is the place from which Abraham saw the mountain where he was to bind his son Isaac. (That mountain is Mt. Moriah, the Temple Mount, clearly visible from here.) The Armon Hanetziv ridge is the first from which the Temple Mount is visible when approaching from the south. More than two thousand years ago, in Hasmonean times, an aqueduct was built that brought water from pools in Bethlehem to Jerusalem and the Temple.
