Nir Topper

The "Church of All Nations" (Italian: Chiesa di tutte le Nazioni), also known as the Church of Gethsemane or the Church of the Agony (Chiesa dell’Agonia), was built between 1919 and 1924. It was designed by the Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi, who planned many churches in the Land of Israel during the first half of the 20th century. It received its name from the donations that arrived from Catholic communities in numerous countries, and the symbols of twelve donor nations are incorporated...

Atop Mount Zion in Jerusalem, just outside today's Old City walls and adjacent to Zion Gate, stands one of the most prominent and recognizable structures of the city's skyline—the Church of the Dormition, a Catholic church and monastery complex belonging to the Benedictine order. Contrary to what one might think at first glance, the name "Dormition" has nothing to do with "Zion". Its origin lies in the Latin word Dormitio, which means "falling asleep" or "slumber". According to Christian...

In the summer of 1918—on Wednesday, July 24 (Tu B'Av 5678)—in the midst of World War I and while the northern part of the Land of Israel was still held by the Ottoman army, nearly 6,000 people gathered on the summit of Mount Scopus for an extraordinary event: the foundation stone-laying ceremony for the Hebrew University, destined to become the first university in the Land of Israel. Dr. Chaim Weizmann, who would become the first President of the State of Israel 30 years later, delivered the...