Jerusalem

by Susan Wels

Jerusalem, sacred center of three great religions, holds a special place in the hearts of nearly two billion people around the globe. On the brink of Jerusalem's 3000th anniversary celebrations, fifty of the world's foremost photojournalists gathered to document life in the densely complex city steeped in history, myth and passion. The photographers - representing the world's top publications and over a dozen nations - captured the crowded markets and ancient alleyways of the Old City and the vibrant modern rhythms of the New. They explored the new Jewish neighborhoods that dot the hills surrounding the city center and the schools, homes, and card rooms of Arab East Jerusalem. They photographed fourth-century churches, eighth-century mosques, eighteenth-century shtetl life in Mea Shearim and twenty-first-century technology - all within a few miles' radius. In one city, they found the walls of the Second Jewish Temple destroyed by the Roman legions, the site of Christ's crucifixion, and