"As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept
over it...." (Luke 19:41)
The Franciscan chapel of Dominus Flevit (Latin, the Lord wept) was built in 1955, near the site which medieval pilgrims identified as the place where Jesus wept over the city. The site, acquired by the Franciscans in 1881, was on a procession route from the Mount of Olives to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Archeological excavations carried out prior to construction uncovered the foundations of a 5th-century monastery and chapel.
The modern sanctuary was designed by Antonio Barluzzi, the architect of several shrines and sanctuaries built during the first half of the 20th century for the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. In a radical departure from his usual conservative style, Barluzzi designed the chapel as a stylized tear-shaped building, constructed in the form of a Greek cross. A window behind the altar in the west wall frames a view of the Old City.
Jerusalem: The city
The Basilica of the Agony (Church of All Nations)
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher
The Coenaculum on Mount Zion
The Temple Mount - the Haram-esh-Sharif
The Western Wall
Yad Vashem
- Map of Jerusalem