"Jerusalem, capital city of modern Israel... a sacred place for three great world religions." "For Jews, this is the city of the Temple Mount... the holiest of holy places." "Muslims believe the prophet Mohammed... ascended into Heaven from here to receive instructions... as to how his followers should pray." "Christians know Jerusalem as the site of the crucifixion of Jesus... and His resurrection." "2000 years ago, this was already an ancient city... a holy place long fought over by warring tribes and nations." "The Jerusalem of today still exists on the edge... of a religious, political and territorial precipice." "Millennial tensions are threatening to explode... with fanatical Jews and Christians... attempting to rid the Mount of its Muslim presence." "Jerusalem is also a city of immense mystery and intrigue." "The last century saw increasing interest in Bible history... and greater efforts were made to uncover the whereabouts... of the Lost Ark of the Covenant... and conduct archaeological research on the Temple Mount." "Queen Victoria backed teams of archaeologists and surveyors... to explore the Temple Mount." "But, to this day many of the secrets of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount... remain tightly guarded." "But the search for the truth of the Lost Ark of the Covenant continues." "As a centre of global faith, Jerusalem has no rival." "Its famous old city is filled with places of worship... that draw visitors from across the world:" "Muslims, Jews, Christians of all denominations." "For them, Jerusalem has been of the utmost importance throughout history." "An importance that continues today." "But in ancient times, before Christ and Mohammed... the story of Jerusalem runs parallel with the history of the Jews." "The importance of Jerusalem to Jews... is as the site of the temple in Jerusalem... where, according to all Jewish tradition..." "God is to be worshipped by Jews through sacrifices and libations... and for all Jews, at least in theory... the most important thing is that the temple should be rebuilt one day... even if we have to wait for the Messiah for this to be achieved." "It all began with Abraham, the father of monotheism." "According to Jewish legend... at a young age, Abraham became certain... of God's singular nature and immense power." "Under God's command, Abraham and his family left their home town... to seek out and populate a new land where they could worship God." "Abraham's journey took him to the Mount of Moriah... which was to become the Temple Mount in Jerusalem." "Abraham's successor, David, fought many battles... before successfully establishing Israel as a nation." "When David's forces conquered a Jebusite stronghold... in the mountainous lands west of the Dead Sea... he decided to establish the Israelite capital there." "This was the birth of Jerusalem as the centre of the Jewish faith." "Strategically, the area of Israel as we know it today... is a military strategist's worst conceivable nightmare." "It's a narrow plain with mountains on one side and sea on the other... but Jerusalem does afford some protection... and David undoubtedly looked at Jerusalem as the ideal place... in which to establish his kingdom." "It had water, it was mountainous, he could protect it." "And it was in between two very important trade routes:" "The Mediterranean, which had the trade routes... to all the Mediterranean sea ports;" "and the north-south trade routes from Saudi Arabia... right up into greater Syria." "The situation was politically quite explosive... even after David became King." "He was following on from Saul, who wasn't his father... so the dynasty of Saul had been broken." "And Saul was a member of the Tribe of Benjamin." "David was a member of the Tribe of Judah." "There were 12 tribes, each with different territories in Israel." "So establishing the capital in any single place... would upset someone or other." "There was a division between Leah's children and those of Rachel." "All these things were difficult and any town would have upset someone." "Jerusalem of course was newly conquered from the Jebusites." "It didn't really belong to any tribe yet... so it seemed like a good middle compromise." "And like a lot of capitals established today... they don't make any sense except they don't upset anybody too much." "From the beginning, Jerusalem had the status of a holy city... a status it has never lost." "King David ordered that the most sacred object... of his people's religion should be enshrined there." "This was an object that continues to inspire mystery and fascination." "It was a small chest, made of Acacia wood... a box built to contain the most sacred laws of God's chosen people." "Carved into stone tablets, these laws were the Decalogue... the ten commandments revealed to Moses by God... several centuries before." "With the Israelites secure in their new territory..." "David decided to make Jerusalem the home for this holy object:" "The Ark of the Covenant." "The account given in the Bible of the Ark of the Covenant... and we have no evidence from anywhere... except within the biblical text... and a few of the later Jewish writings... which refer to it long after it had vanished." "The account is given of a box of wood... of specified dimensions... which travelled with the Israelites... and contained relics which were central to their identity." "Specifically the tablets on which the ten commandments were written." "This description of the Ark... is very like the objects which are used... by many of the Bedouin tribes in the Near East... right down into modern times... to carry their symbols of tribal identity." "I think it is a reasonable interpretation... to see it as originating as that kind of tribal symbol." "As such, when the Israelites became a settled people... and then became a state with a king... this became the national symbol." "I'm firmly convinced that the Ark... was a receptacle for static electricity... hence its alleged powers." "I think Steven Spielberg might not be too far wrong." "The Ark did have the potential... to contain a very high voltage." "Static's an unusual form of electricity... it requires a great degree of dryness in the air." "The Ark after all, was being carried around... it was constructed of gold and wood... so you have the perfect elements for a primitive accumulator... and it was very often carried off any contact with the ground... because we know from the Bible that it was taken on a cart." "This was the point at which the Bible tells us... that Uza reached out to steady the Ark as it fell off the cart... and as he touched it, he fell dead." "I think that Uza, who may have had a weak heart... got a shock." "Whether he died or not from it we don't know... maybe this was embellished." "The Bible says he died from this." "I think that he got a tremendous shock of static." "David then told the Levites... who were in charge of the Ark at the time... that they'd have sole custody of it... they would henceforth be the only people allowed to touch it." "Perhaps they had understood... the static electricity properties of their container... and insulated themselves... leather sandals without any studs so they would have had a job for life." "The place where David chose to enshrine the Ark... was already a significant place for his people." "It was the summit of Mount Moriah... the hill where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son, Isaac... as proof of his faith in God." "According to the Bible..." "David paid fifty silver shekels for a threshing floor on the Mount." "He then constructed a tabernacle on this floor... in preparation to house the holy Ark." "Now dominated by the Islamic dome of the rock..." "David's chosen site remains sacred to the Jewish people." "This is the compound of the Temple Mount... or in Arabic, the Haram-ech-Cherif, the noble enclosure... which stands in the east of Jerusalem's old city." "Although the Temple Mount compound is no longer a Jewish place of worship... all Jews know that this was the location for the ancient temple... a place that has not existed physically for almost 2000 years... but still the symbolic, spiritual centre of their faith." "The temple was built by David's son and successor, Solomon... the Bible explains why." "The religious law of Israel dictated that David... because of his war-like past, was impure... and the task therefore fell to Solomon." "Solomon certainly had the resources to complete the task." "The Book of Chronicles also describes... the materials acquired by David for his son's great task." "David tells him: "I have prepared for the house of the Lord... 100000 talents of gold and 100000 talents of silver... and of brass and iron without weight for it is in abundance." "Timber also and stone I have prepared... and thou mayest add there too, cut limestone... and beams of Cedar of Lebanon... panelled inside with cedar and gilded."" "The main body of the temple was a large rectangular hall... built from hewn and cut stone." "According to the Bible, its main structure was 60 cubits long... 20 cubits wide and 30 cubits high;" "a cubit equalling roughly 21 inches." "To the front stood a great porch dominated by 2 bronze pillars... which stood over 18 cubits high." "Smaller chambers were situated around the main structure." "Inside the main hall, the walls were completely covered with cedar wood... while the floor was made from the wood from fir trees." "The whole building was then lavishly decorated with gold." "But more significant than its decoration was its holy content." "Inside the main hall... in a beautifully carved and gilded inner sanctum, or Holy of Holies... stood the Ark of the Covenant." "The tablets of law given to Moses by God... now had a permanent home and the Solomon's temple... stood as a glorious monument to the Israelites faith." "The temple was built on one of the hills of Jerusalem." "Jerusalem's a very hilly city, mountainous, I guess you'd say." "So being built on top of a mountain it'd be very visible." "Of course back then, we're talking 1000BC... there were not many very big buildings, most were fairly small." "To have a building which is some 20 cubits high... 10 metres high, is already pretty large." "It was also remarkable because it didn't have any internal pillars... it was as big as a building could be without being supported internally." "So when you went inside, you had this huge hall... without any pillars... so it was probably one of the biggest built spaces... you could see with an unobstructed view." "It was also, as far as we know, very highly decorated, very beautiful." "If it was lined or decorated with gold it would glint in the sun." "Jerusalem's a very clear, sunny city even in the wintertime." "So all that would make it a powerful focus for people's attention." "It didn't have any statues or any images... or any design or artwork." "It would be quite stark in that sense... but nevertheless, it would be very striking... in a city of that age, back then." "It took Solomon 7 years to complete the temple... and his achievement boldly proclaimed Jerusalem's new status." "By the time of his death in 922BC..." "Jerusalem was the established capital of the unified kingdom of Israel... with the temple as the focus of religious life." "However, Israel's unity was short lived." "Disunity between the Israelite tribes... led to a break up of the unified kingdom... although the greatest danger to Jerusalem, the temple... and the Jewish people, came from the East." "Between 722 and 721BC... the Assyrians invaded and destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel... despite great resistance." "10 tribes were banished from their kingdom, never to return." "These would become known as the fabled "Lost Tribes of Israel"." "Judah, by contrast, retained its independence." "When Assyrian power began to fade in the 7th century BC... it appeared that Jerusalem's future was finally secure." "But at the beginning of the 6th century BC... a new danger began to emerge from the East:" "King Nebuchadnezzar, legendary ruler of Babylon, threatened Jerusalem." "When Jerusalem first became the capital of Judah... the effect was not that dramatic to judge by the archaeology." "It stayed within the same walls... from its first development in the Bronze Age... down to the period of the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel." "Following that period, however... it expanded enormously... until it was by far the largest city in the country... and larger than any city in the country had been in the past." "However, I think it's safe to say... that even within the period before that expansion... which took place after 700 BC... even in that earlier period between 1000 and 700 BC... there would have been substantial royal buildings within the city... and probably fairly substantial private houses... of the wealthy nobility from the Israelite kingdom." "We can judge this on the basis of the tombs of that earlier period... which have been found around the city." "These are quite elaborate... and clearly were wealthy tombs of wealthy people." "We can also judge it on the basis... of the terraces which were built on the slopes of the city... to create more level ground within the defences... on which to build houses and other public buildings." "I think it would have affected the city quite dramatically... it would have made it more beautiful and rich than it ever had been." "On March 16th, 597BC..." "Nebuchadnezzar's forces captured Jerusalem." "Many leading Judean citizens were forced into exile." "The temple was looted of most of its treasures... but Judah just survived as an entity... under a new king installed by the Babylonians:" "The 21 year old Zedachia." "The survival of Jewish Jerusalem would be brief." "In the 9th year of Zedachia's rule... he and his people rose up against Nebuchadnezzar." "It was a disastrous decision." "The Babylonians responded with a fresh attack." "After a siege of 18 months, the city fell in 586BC." "This time, the Babylonians showed no restraint." "Solomon's temple was completely destroyed... with anything of value looted." "The holy Ark of the Covenant mysteriously disappeared... although there is no evidence that it was seized by the Babylonians." "Its fate remains to this day the stuff of legend." "The giant brass pillars of the temple porch... were broken down and taken to Babylon." "Exile to Babylon would also be the fate of the vast majority... of skilled workmen, trained soldiers and the aristocracy." "This included King Zedachia... who was forced to watch the slaying of his children... before having his eyes gouged out." "Despite this disaster... the Jewish faith in their one God survived." "The temple may have been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar's forces... but it still existed in their consciousness... as the centre of their faith." "By the rivers of Babylon in exile... the people of Moses and David lamented their holy city." "In the absence of a temple they met in groups... these meeting places would evolve into today's Synagogues." "Prayers were said facing Jerusalem... a practice that continues to this day." "In simple terms, the Jews maintained the ritual of their faith... and the identity of their nation." "The capacity of the Jews to remain committed to their Jewish thinking... relates directly to the rather clever way they've handled Jerusalem." "The temple was destroyed by the Babylonians... when they took the Judean Jews... of the southern kingdom of Judah... off into slavery to Babylon." "Rather than despair... as the 10 lost tribes of the north did some centuries before... instead of saying, "That's the end of Jerusalem and the temple"... they gathered together and said, "Let's remember Jerusalem... let's echo it in our practices, let's still pray to return there... maybe we'll be able to."" "And in fact, just a few decades later... they were allowed to return and rebuild the temple." "But in that remarkable few decades in Babylon... they started to construct some quite radical concepts." "Gathering together and remembering the temple... facing towards Jerusalem... constructing things to remind them of the temple... for example an ark where they'd keep the holy books... was an echo of the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy of Holies." "The curtain like the one in Jerusalem... the eternal light like the one that burned in the temple..." "These kinds of things established for the very first time... what would become the Synagogue." "We forget that the Synagogue is a completely radical invention." "Never before had ordinary people gathered for religious purposes." "In the past, priests did their thing in temples... and people came and watched or they didn't; it wasn't their business." "So here suddenly religion became democratised." "Ordinary people played their part." "Now that meant that Judaism became portable." "Although, yes, there was a great longing to return to Jerusalem... there was a great longing to have the temple... they could be Jews wherever they chose." "The Jews would soon be rewarded for keeping their faith." "In 539BC, Cyrus the Great conquered Persia and Babylon... emancipating the Jews." "Free to return to Jerusalem and led by Zerubbabel... tens of thousands made the journey back to their ruined capital." "They returned to their holy city... facing the daunting task of rebuilding their temple." "Inspired by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah... the returned exiles set about their work." "When the second temple was re-established by the returnees... from Babylon, given permission by the Persians who conquered Babylon... they wanted to establish, rebuild the temple;" "that is why they were allowed to return, to do that." "They didn't have many resources although the Persian empire... paid for the re-establishment of the temple... but still they didn't have many resources or skilled craftspeople... and they found a certain antipathy amongst those who had remained... who felt they knew what they were doing... and didn't want these characters coming back... saying we'll re-establish our own system." "This was the origin of the conflict which would later become famous... between the Samaritans, who had stayed behind... and the Jews who returned from Babylon." "The Samaritans wanted to participate in the rebuilding of the temple... the Jews from Babylon said no, this is a Jewish business." "The Samaritans were deeply offended by this... and started to attack the Jews' attempts to rebuild the temple... and frequently those attempts were put off." "Nevertheless, eventually they built something." "The result was completed in 516BC... but was a poor restoration of Solomon's original." "The second temple itself... had absolutely none of the splendour of the first temple." "Indeed it is said in the Bible... that those who knew the first temple... when they saw the 2nd temple, wept at the comparison between the two." "It was nowhere near as attractive as the original temple... but over the course of generations... it was embellished and further improved... right up until Roman times." "Certainly by the time of the Greeks, it was a fairly fancy building... whether it equalled the Solomonic building we don't know... but we know that by Greek times understanding of architecture... and aspirations had changed... so even if it was identical... probably they would've seen it as primitive." "But it had the same broad structure:" "The porch, the main hall, the Holy of Holies in the centre... but by then it didn't contain the Ark of the Covenant." "That had been taken off..." "It's the stuff of legend." "Nobody knows where it is, even Spielberg can make a movie..." "Raiders of the Lost Ark; that kind of dream, that kind of legend." "Nobody knows where it is." "So the Holy of Holies now was a completely empty room... which in a way is rather suitable for the Jewish understanding... of what you'd find if you tried to find God... but it had broadly the same layout." "Jerusalem now enjoyed centuries of relative prosperity and stability." "However, in the 4th century BC..." "Macedonia became the dominant power in the region." "Alexander the Great defeated the Persians in 331BC in Syria... and Jerusalem became the capital of the ancient Greek province, Judea." "Throughout his life, Alexander was known... for his tolerance towards conquered peoples." "The people of Jerusalem were no exception." "Under Greek domination, Jerusalem became an important trading centre." "Many of its Jewish inhabitants however... sought commercial opportunities elsewhere... such as at Alexandria in Egypt." "Although these Jews were now separated from their capital... and compelled to learn the languages and customs of their new homelands... all Jews had to pay an annual tax for the upkeep of the Jerusalem temple." "Jerusalem and its legacy remained the focus of all their rituals." "Following the death of Alexander in 323BC..." "Judea became the responsibility of the Egyptian Ptolomeic dynasty." "For the whole of the 3rd century BC..." "Jerusalem remained largely free of major upheavals... but in 198BC Egypt was defeated by the Syrian forces... of King Antiacus III and lost control of Judea." "The consequences were devastating for Jerusalem and the Jews." "Greek civilisation began to erode the authority of the Jerusalem priests." "When King Antiacus IV installed an altar to Zeus... in the temple in 168BC an armed rebellion ensued." "It was led by the dynasty of Metathius Maccabeus... otherwise known as the Maccabees." "The Maccabees reclaimed total Jewish sovereignty of the temple... reinstating it as the nation's holiest place." "An event still joyously celebrated as Hanukah, the festival of light." "The celebration of Hanukah, or the beginning of it... is described in the books of Maccabees." "It is a dynastic ceremony... in which all Jews in Judea... were required to light candles for 8 days... in what was intended as an imitation... of the 8 days of the festival of tabernacles of Sukkoth." "In the later rupinic sources... which first refer to these events only in the Talmud... the 4th and 5th centuries;" "long after these events... the celebration that they are commemorating... is the discovery of oil in the temple which then lasted for 8 days... until more pure oil could be found... to allow the lights in the temple to be lit again." "After 450 years, Judah was an independent state once more." "By public demand, the Maccabees became the ruling dynasty." "By the 1st century BC however... a new and decisive force began to emerge." "In 63BC Roman forces under Pompeii the Great... took advantage of the unrest to invade Judah and Jerusalem." "By 37BC, Judah had become the Roman province of Judea... and a new, Roman-backed king began to rule the land." "For Jews and Christians, this king is regarded to this day... as a ruthless, murderous tyrant." "He is Herod the Great." "However, Herod's architectural achievements... far outweigh his notoriety." "He constructed the great summer palace of Masada... and his famous mausoleum, Herodian... but his greatest and most enduring achievement for posterity... was his rebuilding of the temple of Solomon." "Expanding the platform, he constructed great walls... to enclose the new, 2nd temple." "When we talk about the 2nd temple... in a way it should really be temple 2A... because Herod so completely renovated it... that one suspects that what there was significantly different... to the temple that was built by people returning from Babylon... five or six hundred years before." "This was a wonderful marble, huge construction... with grandiose ambitions... and all the best quality of architectural development... that Greek and Roman thought had developed." "It retained the same broad outline, with the temple in the centre... the porchway, the main hall, the Holy of Holies in the centre... he couldn't possibly have dared to mess about with that." "It would appear from contemporary accounts of the rabbis... that Herod tried, quite uncharacteristically... to ensure he didn't offend against any aspect of Jewish ritual... throughout the building." "He was desperate to make sure nobody could criticise him... of doing something wrong as he reconstructed the temple." "All of his reconstruction was complete... before he demolished the old bits... so he kind of built a shell outside the inner temple... and then dismantled it, to display the great temple he'd created." "He went to quite remarkable efforts... to keep the Jewish religious authorities happy." "Indeed, the rabbis say... you've never seen a beautiful building... until you've seen the temple of Herod." "By the time of Herod's death in 4BC, the temple was finished... but its precincts were still incomplete." "Jewish tradition is pretty unenthusiastic about Herod... it isn't as extremely unenthusiastic as Christian tradition... but there are no traditions which criticise his temple." "The one good thing about him was that he made the temple..." "look that much more impressive than it had done previously." "Herod, in his final stage of life... was aware of an ancient messianic prophecy... and in a town south of Jerusalem a child had been born:" "Jesus Christ." "Jesus, from an early age... frequented a Temple Mount area still under construction." "For Christians, events at the end of Jesus' life... invest the city of Jerusalem with its eternal significance." "Every year, tens of thousands of believers come here... to visit the sites of their saviour's last days on Earth." "According to the gospels..." "Jesus arrived at Jerusalem on the Sunday before Passover... going through the golden gate of the eastern city wall... onto the Temple Mount." "In doing so, Jesus was fulfilling Jewish messianic prophecy." "Over the next few days..." "Jesus famously drove out the traders and money changers... from the courtyard of the temple and engaged in arguments... with the Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees and the chief priests." "Jewish leadership was divided into two broadly separate groups." "There were other groups too:" "Zealot freedom fighters in the hills... the Essenes who'd cut themselves off and were having nothing to do with it." "But the two main groups vying for power in Jerusalem... were the Pharisees, who we might largely call worker-teachers... what we today call the rabbis... and the Sadducees who were more orientated around the temple... around trying to make it work with the Roman leadership... trying to keep the structures of Jerusalem going." "It would seem as if the Romans and the Sadducees... both recognised that if messianic movements got out of hand... this would threaten the status quo significantly." "According to the Christian tradition..." "Jesus was seen as a troublemaker by the Jewish authorities... the Sanhedrin." "His fate was apparently sealed:" "He had to be eliminated." "The political implications of the crucifixion of Jesus... change depending on whose point of view you're looking from." "From the Roman point of view..." "Jesus was probably something of a minor nuisance... who had to be got out of the way before he became a major problem." "And in that respect, to the Romans... this was not an affair of much note at all." "The gospel gives a very vivid account... of the deliberations of the Jewish high priest Caiaphas... and his advisors... as to what to do about Jesus." "And for them it was a question of not allowing him... to disturb the status quo vis-à-vis the Romans." "Hence Caiaphas saying that one man should die for the people." "Of course, in the longer term... the crucifixion of Jesus... came to have an immense political significance... on a much grander scale... in that his followers founded a new religion... and eventually this religion... became the official religion of the Roman empire." "At that point it changed the status of Jerusalem dramatically... and made it the world religious centre which it has remained since." "For many Christians... the most important aspect of a visit to Jerusalem... is to follow the supposed route taken by Jesus... as he carried the cross through Jerusalem." "Long after the death of Jesus... and after the Jerusalem of his time had been destroyed and rebuilt..." "Christians decided that Jesus had carried the cross... along the Via Dolorosa:" "The sorrowful road." "The so-called "14 stations of the cross" marked along this route... represent incidents that allegedly happened during that journey." "At the corner of Via Dolorosa and the street known as Al-Wad... is station 4; supposedly the place where Jesus saw his mother, Mary." "100 metres further on is station 6." "This marks the spot where Jesus' face... was supposedly wiped by a woman called Veronica." "Although the story of Veronica... was only found 7 centuries after Christ's death." "But if the route taken by Jesus with the cross is dubious... there is less doubt about the place where he possibly met his death." "The Church of the Holy Sepulchre... site of the last 5 stations of the cross... is one of the most revered places in all Christianity." "Despite the church's name, it is considered unlikely... that Jesus' sepulchre, or tomb, was located here." "By tradition, this is where his crucifixion took place." "During the 5th decade of the first century... the temple precincts were finally completed." "But completion of the Temple Mount did not bring peace." "In AD44, just over 10 years since the crucifixion..." "Rome had begun to appoint governors for Judea... who favoured a much firmer approach in their dealing with the Jews." "In AD66, a bloody insurrection broke out across Judea... led by the Zealots who seized Jerusalem from the Romans." "The response of the Roman emperor Nero... was to despatch several legions, under the command of Vespasian." "The consequences for the Holy City were severe." "Vespasian's son, Titus, finally captured the city... but in so doing precipitated the destruction of Herod's temple." "The effect of the temple's destruction on Jerusalem was dramatic... because the temple had been the main engine of the economy of the city... through pilgrims and tourists coming... through the regular income the temple received... from Jews all over the world... both within the Roman empire and from Mesopotamia." "All that ended because there was no longer any temple... and Jews in the Roman empire had to send their offerings to Rome... to rebuild the Temple of Jupiter burnt down by mistake in the year 69." "So, the economy of the city collapsed completely." "The establishment of foreign Gods and Goddesses on the Mount... led to the next, final rebellion." "Under the leadership of the "Son of Light", Simon Barcoba... the Judeans rose up once more in AD132." "Barcoba took Jerusalem from the Romans... and re-instated monotheistic Jewish worship on the Mount." "The Roman armies retaliated vehemently... crushing the revolt and claiming half a million Jewish lives." "The ruling emperor, Hadrian... re-named the city Alia Capitalina... and executed a final expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem." "Exiled and dispersed across the world for 18 centuries... the Jewish Diaspora ended only in May 1948... with the proclamation of the State of Israel." "But the story of Jerusalem's past re-emerged in the mid 19th century... with the western Christian revival of interest in the history of the Bible." "In 1866, the Palestine Exploration Fund was established... with Queen Victoria as its patron." "The fund's aim... was to increase understanding of Israel's ancient biblical sites." "Captain Charles Wilson, of the Royal Engineers... began the exploration with a concise survey." "Lieutenant Charles Warren took over from Wilson." "Warren's job was fraught with difficulty and danger." "Muslims distrusted foreign archaeological teams... in particular their interest in secret passages under the Mount." "The Turkish Ottoman authorities... who ruled Jerusalem from Constantinople... refused further access to the Temple Mount." "For Warren and his team..." "Jerusalem was unwelcoming in other ways as well." "Centuries of rubbish surrounded the Temple Mount... and its network of cisterns and passages... were clogged with Jerusalem's sewage." "Warren fought a war of wills with the authorities and local landowners... to gain access to the Mount as well as a battle against disease." "Lieutenant Charles Warren... was a wonderful diplomat... and was able to persuade the Islamic authorities... to allow him to go into... all of the cisterns and caverns below the temple platform... and to explore them." "His survey, combined with that of Charles Wilson some years earlier... provided all the basic data that we have... of the archaeology of the Temple Mount... and it is on the basis of their work that all later work has been built." "Warren made some startling discoveries." "He was determined not only to pinpoint the locations... of numerous secret tunnels under the Temple Mount... but to uncover the Mount's Solomonic past." "This would bring him closer to the possible location... of the Holy of Holies, which held the Ark of the Covenant." "Some years earlier, Wilson had accurately mapped cistern 5... an underground system which led down the Mount... away from the estimated centre of Solomon's temple complex." "Warren deduced that cistern 5... drained the sacrificial remains from the first temple." "This meant that the bronze altar of Solomon's inner courtyard... would have stood at the north east end of cistern 5." "Warren concluded that Solomon's temple... was located 40 metres south of the sacra." "With all this detail, an accurate picture... of the Solomonic and Herodian temple complexes began to emerge." "I, like all the archaeologists, cannot dig on the Mount." "So as well as trying to trace the underground cisterns and channels..." "I thought the next best thing would be to try infra-red photography." "I took a photograph in 1997... from about 1000 feet... and it shows a channel running from the sacra... to the well-head at cistern 5." "This only shows up on infra-red film." "This is very interesting... because it proves to my mind, Warren's theory... that the centre of drainage for the temple... was here, at his cistern 5... which is shown on Wilson's map." "If so, the Holy of Holies would have stood approximately here." "If there was a secret hiding place leading from the Holy of Holies... one would have to dig somewhere in this area to find it." "Although Wilson and Warren failed to find the Ark... their findings contributed to his contemporaries' understanding... of the Mount's infrastructure and history." "The findings of the British Royal Engineers of the 19th century... strengthen Warren's conclusion... that the Holy of Holies was situated south of the sacra." "This means that there was once a fixed site for the Holy of Holies... and thereby, possibly the Ark." "The last record in history we have of the Ark... is a reference in the Book of Kings and Chronicles." "In 620BC, King Josiah... asked the Levites who were the sole custodians of the Ark... to bring it out of its hiding place... and put it back inside the Holy of Holies; the temple Solomon had built." "This is very important... because I think that it shows that a hiding place was constructed... for the Ark of the Covenant... well before the Babylonian destruction of 586BC... in which most of the first temple was destroyed." "If this is the case, it means the Ark... although it disappeared from recorded history... had not disappeared from Jerusalem... and it's very important for not only historians... but also the Jewish nation, to believe... that the Ark remains underneath the Temple Mount in Jerusalem." "It has no real significance anywhere else in the world." "This was the place chosen by David, by command of God." "Therefore today most Jews would like to believe that the Ark... is somewhere underneath the Mount." "After numerous failed attempts to find the Lost Ark of the Covenant... both by archaeologists and treasure hunters... interest in the Mount's secrets are as high today as ever." "In August 1998 archaeologist Richard Andrews... had the rare opportunity to enter the Haram... and witness the sites Charles Warren had seen over a century earlier." "Andrews and the television crew ventured under the Temple Mount... armed with the thought that the Ark of the Covenant... could still be hidden only metres away." "You go from a place of great noise outside... great heat." "And you enter this shaft which is riveted by wood... to keep the walls from caving in... and you then enter another world." "There's total silence." "Complete darkness." "We had the sun-guns from our cameras so we were able to see quite well... and as I progressed further... we couldn't go any further with the lamps and I took a torch." "I was able to crawl down one of the tunnels... for a distance of about 150 metres." "The trouble is that it has never been excavated... so I had to then extricate myself by crawling out backwards." "It did lead me to realise... that my theory that the Ark could be hidden under the Mount is plausible." "This is just one tunnel of many hundreds... that are still in existence under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem." "So I could well imagine the Ark... still standing not many metres away from where we are... where it had been left many thousands of years ago... by the Levites before the Babylonian destruction." "Jerusalem is something of an enigma... and her mystery is added to by the question of the Ark's whereabouts." "2000 years of history has seen great change within Jerusalem's walls... in terms of both religion and archaeology." "The archaeology of Jerusalem has undergone fantastic change." "The great temple of Solomon gave way to the temple of Zerubbabel... which in turn gave way to the temple of Herod." "Today, the temple we can see hides many lost secrets... including possibly the Ark." "The only thing which is definite is that the temple itself... is a lost treasure of the ancient world." "There is a great desire by Jerusalem archaeologists..." "Israeli archaeologists, to excavate as much as they can." "Unfortunately they have met up against... the religious concerns of the Muslims... who still control the Temple Mount." "This is the situation which exists today." "It seems extremely unlikely the Temple Mount will ever be excavated." "For historians this isn't such a tragedy... because we have so many literary sources... at least for the second temple period... which tell us what the temple was like... while it was still standing in Roman times." "Although it would be nice to have visual proof by excavation... it is by no means essential." "We still know more about the Jerusalem temple... than any other temple in the ancient world."