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Jerusalem — Mount Scopus Photo Gallery

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Jerusalem Overview

Introduction

Jerusalem - Mount Scopus
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East of Jerusalem’s Old City rises a long north–south ridge overlooking the Kidron Valley. The Mount of Olives forms the better-known southern portion of this ridge, while Mount Scopus rises to the north. Between them, the terrain drops through the shallow depression associated with Emek Tzurim (Tzurim Valley). From many viewpoints around Jerusalem, the two heights appear almost continuous, making it easy for visitors to think of Mount Scopus and the Mount of Olives as a single mountain. Together they form the prominent eastern ridge that provides some of the finest views across the Kidron Valley toward the Temple Mount and Old City.

Mount Scopus has long been valued for its commanding position overlooking Jerusalem. Today its skyline is dominated by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, whose Mount Scopus campus and prominent water tower are visible from many parts of the city and from the approaches to Jerusalem from the east. On the southwestern slope of Mount Scopus, overlooking the Mount of Olives, Kidron Valley, and Old City, stands the Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. Its terraces, gardens, and distinctive arches were designed to take full advantage of this remarkable setting.

Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies - Mount Scopus

BYU’s study program in the Holy Land began in 1968, long before the present Center was built. As the program grew, Church and university leaders sought a permanent home for students in Jerusalem. In 1979, while in Jerusalem for the dedication of the Orson Hyde Memorial Garden, President Spencer W. Kimball selected the Mount Scopus site on which the Center would eventually stand. After several years of negotiations and approvals, construction began in 1984. Students moved into the partially completed building in 1987, and the Jerusalem Center was dedicated on May 16, 1989, by President Howard W. Hunter.

The eight-level Center serves primarily as an educational facility where BYU students study the scriptures, history, cultures, and peoples of the Near East while experiencing the land firsthand. Its classrooms, residences, library, auditorium, gardens, and public concert facilities occupy a site with an extraordinary panorama of Jerusalem.

Although this gallery introduces Mount Scopus and its geographical relationship to Jerusalem, most of the photographs that follow concentrate on the BYU Jerusalem Center. The Center provides an especially useful vantage point from which to understand the geography of Jerusalem while also representing a distinctive chapter in the modern history of Mount Scopus.

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Major Events at Jerusalem

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This view across the Kidron Valley illustrates the geography of Jerusalem’s eastern ridge, where Mount Scopus rises to the north and the Mount of Olives to the south, separated by the shallow Emek Tzurim depression. The overlay identifies major landmarks across the landscape, including Hebrew University, the BYU Jerusalem Center, the Old City, City of David, Silwan, and several important sites on the Mount of Olives.

Just north of the BYU Jerusalem Center, the main intersection lies below the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus campus (see first photo below). In this photo, rising prominently above the trees is the university’s distinctive water tower, a Mount Scopus landmark that can be seen from the road climbing westward from Jericho toward Jerusalem. Its height and unusual profile make it a useful visual marker for recognizing Mount Scopus and the location of the Hebrew University campus.

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Mount Scopus

Just north of the BYU Jerusalem Center, this intersection lies below the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus campus. Rising prominently above the trees is the university’s distinctive water tower, a Mount Scopus landmark that can be seen from the road climbing westward from Jericho toward Jerusalem. Its height and unusual profile make it a useful visual marker for recognizing Mount Scopus and the location of the Hebrew University campus.

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Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies - Mount Scopus

Looking east across the northern slope of the Mount of Olives toward Mount Scopus, the distinctive arched façade of the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies stands prominently near the center of the ridge. At upper right rises the tower of the Augusta Victoria complex, built in the early twentieth century on Mount Scopus. Together, these two landmarks are among the most recognizable features of the ridge east of Jerusalem’s Old City.

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Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies - Judean Wilderness

Looking east from just outside the grounds of the BYU Jerusalem Center, the landscape falls away from Mount Scopus toward the rolling hills of the Judean Wilderness. Beyond the wilderness lies the Jordan Valley, largely obscured here by distance and atmospheric haze, while the mountains of Jordan form the faint horizon in the distance. The view illustrates Jerusalem’s dramatic position along the boundary between the more settled central hill country and the arid wilderness descending eastward toward the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley.

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BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies

The entrance to the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies on Mount Scopus. Dedicated in 1989, the Center serves as the Jerusalem campus of Brigham Young University and provides students with opportunities to study the Bible, the history and culture of the Holy Land, and the modern Middle East.

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BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies

A long arcade of limestone arches is one of the characteristic architectural features of the BYU Jerusalem Center. The arches and terraces follow the slope of Mount Scopus and are readily recognizable from viewpoints across Jerusalem. Photographed on a rainy November day, the overcast sky reflects the winter conditions visitors sometimes encounter in Jerusalem.

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Old City - Dome of the Rock

The BYU Jerusalem Center commands an exceptional view across the Kidron Valley toward Jerusalem’s Old City. Photographed with a telephoto lens, this view compresses the distance, making the golden Dome of the Rock and the landmarks beyond it appear considerably closer than they do to the unaided eye. The domes of the Hurva Synagogue and Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue rise within the Jewish Quarter, with the Church of the Dormition and its distinctive clock-topped bell tower prominent on Mount Zion. Rain and low clouds on this November day soften the distant cityscape while preserving the dramatic view from the Center.

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BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies

The concert hall of the BYU Jerusalem Center, viewed toward its prominent pipe organ. The hall is designed not only for concerts, lectures, and other gatherings, but also to take advantage of the Center’s remarkable setting, with large windows opening toward the Old City of Jerusalem.

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BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies

From inside the concert hall, large windows frame a view across the Kidron Valley toward Jerusalem’s Old City. The Dome of the Rock and Temple Mount dominate the scene, making the landscape of Jerusalem itself an integral part of the architectural experience of the Center.

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BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies

One of several models displayed on the grounds of the Jerusalem Center illustrates the changing appearance of Jerusalem through different historical periods. This model depicts the city during the Early Muslim and Crusader periods, allowing visitors to compare the development of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount with the modern city visible from the Center.

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BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies

Throughout the landscaped grounds of the BYU Jerusalem Center, replicas and examples of objects associated with traditional life in the biblical world complement the surrounding gardens. Large storage jars and other artifacts help evoke the agricultural and domestic setting familiar from many biblical narratives.

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BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies

This reconstructed olive-crushing installation illustrates the first stage of traditional olive-oil production. Olives were placed in the circular basin and crushed beneath the heavy rotating stone, producing a pulp that could then be transferred to a press to extract the oil. In the background, the distinctive Hebrew University water tower rises above Mount Scopus, illustrating how closely the BYU Jerusalem Center adjoins the university campus.

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BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies

A reconstructed screw press demonstrates another stage in traditional olive-oil production. After the olives were crushed, the pulp was placed in baskets or mats and subjected to increasing pressure as the screw was tightened, forcing the oil and liquid from the crushed fruit for collection below. The Hebrew University water tower, visible in the background, provides a useful landmark and perspective on the Jerusalem Center’s location immediately adjacent to the Mount Scopus university campus.

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Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies - Mount Scopus

Road signs in Jerusalem have long identified the BYU Jerusalem Center as “Mormon University,” reflecting the name by which the Center and its sponsoring church became familiar to many local residents. Although the facility is officially the Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies, the informal designation became a recognizable Jerusalem landmark.

In recent years, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has placed greater emphasis on using its full name, including changing its principal website from LDS.org to ChurchofJesusChrist.org. In Jerusalem, however, Church and university officials have not pressed for the familiar wording on local signs to be changed. “Mormon University” remains a practical local designation for a place Jerusalem residents have known by that name for decades.