Archaeological evidence points to settlement at Jerusalem stretching back some 5,000 years, making it one of the world's oldest continuously significant cities. Over its long history it passed through the hands of successive peoples and civilisations, each leaving a mark on its architectural and spiritual fabric.
Its Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, contains Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, the Western Wall, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre — sites of profound sanctity to Muslims, Jews and Christians respectively, making Jerusalem a uniquely compact meeting point of all three Abrahamic faiths.
