Interior of the Mosque El-Aksa

‎After a week spent in retirement in the neighborhood of the Lake of Galilee our, Savior went up again to Jerusalem to attend the Passover, which took place, according to the Harmony we follow, between March 30th and April 5th, A. D. 28. On this particular visit to Jerusalem, our Savior healed a man at the Pool of Bethesda. The Mosque of El-Aksa, which occupies a part of the place once allotted to the temple, is different in style and inferior in character to the Mosque of Omar. The edifice was originally founded by the Emperor Justinian about the middle of the sixth century, but has been much modified, no doubt, by Moslem architects, for it has been in ruins twice in consequence of earthquakes, and we may infer that but little of the original building now left can be considered strictly ancient. The interior is supported by forty-five columns, thirty-three of which are marble and twelve of common stone. Some of the windows are very good. Some wretched paintings by an Italian artist were introduced when the mosque was repaired at the beginning of the present century. Here, too, is a magnificent pulpit of wood, with exquisite carved arabesques and raised panels, inlaid with ivory and mother of pearl. On the stone behind the pulpit is shown “the footprint of Jesus.” On the eastern side of the mosque is the Mosque of “Forty Martyrs,” and near this is a gate leading out to the “Cradle of Jesus.”