Garden of Gethsemane

“The prayer of olive trees that remember that night”

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Photo: Beko · CC BY-SA 4.0

Scenes

The twisted trunk of an ancient olive tree — A tree grown twisted, as if remembering that nightBeko · CC BY-SA 4.0

Interior of the Church of All Nations, its deep-blue ceiling scattered with stars — A ceiling of stars in the Church of All Nations, like the sky of that nightNevborg · CC BY-SA 4.0

Meaning

You stand among ancient trees whose silver leaves turn in the wind, and the golden mosaic of the Church of All Nations glows against the slope of the Mount of Olives.

Gospel tradition holds this olive garden as the place where Jesus spent his last night in prayer. The name Gethsemane is said to come from an Aramaic word meaning 'oil press'; beside the garden stands the Church of All Nations, the Basilica of the Agony, and olive trees whose oldest dated trunks reach back some nine hundred years — their roots perhaps older — still grow here.

Field notes

Location: Mount of Olives · Jerusalem · N31.8° · E35.2°
Best time: Late afternoon, when the olive leaves turn silver in the wind.
Getting there: A fifteen-minute walk from Jerusalem's Old City, across the Kidron Valley to the foot of the Mount of Olives.
Etiquette: Keep a prayerful quiet in the garden and the basilica, for those who come to pray.

Sources

· Encyclopaedia Britannica
· Custodia Terrae Sanctae

Official site Wikipedia

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