The Mount of Olives cemetery grew on Jerusalem’s eastern ridge above the Kidron Valley, facing the Temple Mount. Archaeological burial caves in the area date to biblical times, while Jewish burial expanded on the ridge in the late First Temple and Second Temple periods. Use changed across centuries, so the cemetery’s history is long but not a record of uninterrupted burial for three millennia.
From ancient burial caves to a medieval gap
The oldest burial caves associated with the Mount of Olives lie near Silwan and date to biblical times. Burials on the eastern ridge increased from the late First Temple period, roughly the eighth to sixth centuries BCE, and continued through the Second Temple period. Around 70 CE, the ridge held many burial caves among gardens and olive orchards. Jewish Virtual Library’s historical account notes that many ancient caves were later plundered and that Jewish burial occurred in other locations during intervening periods.
Historical sources place Jewish burial on southern slopes and east of the Temple Mount during the Arab, Crusader, and Mamluk eras. Jews returned to bury on parts of the Mount of Olives under Ottoman rule beginning in the sixteenth century. These shifts matter: the cemetery’s significance comes from a centuries-long relationship with Jerusalem, not a claim of constant use at one spot.
Sections reflect Jerusalem’s communities
The cemetery is not one uniform burial ground. It includes areas associated with different burial societies and communities. For example, the Hassidic cemetery began receiving burials in 1856 and continued until the 1948 war; its graves include members of Jerusalem’s Hassidic courts and dynastic rabbis. The General Burial Society section received nearly 5,000 burials, mostly of Jerusalem residents, from 1939 to 1948. Eight smaller areas generally belong to Oriental communities. The section descriptions illustrate how communal institutions shaped the cemetery’s layout.
Today the cemetery is estimated to contain more than 60,000 graves over about 300 dunams, according to the Israeli State Comptroller’s review of its restoration, development, and security. The estimate and area describe the present site; older sources use different boundaries and totals.
Burial stopped in 1948 and resumed in 1967
Jewish burial on the mount stopped in 1948 and resumed 19 years later, after the Six-Day War. During Jordanian rule from 1948 to 1967, the cemetery suffered extensive damage; the State Comptroller reports that tens of thousands of graves were desecrated. The report also records that Israeli governments made restoration and security decisions from 1968 onward, while significant work was delayed for years. The State Comptroller independently confirms the 1948 stoppage and 1967 resumption in its review of restoration and maintenance. The cemetery’s modern history and upkeep are covered in the account of damage and restoration.
The Mount of Olives is both an active cemetery and a historic site. Its sections preserve the burial practices of Jerusalem’s Jewish communities, while its changing chronology avoids turning a real and deep connection into an unsupported claim of uninterrupted use.