Computer Simulation of the Jewish Temple

Computer Simulation of the Jewish Temple

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Deep in the cool recesses of the remains of an ancient Muslim palace, tourists gaze at a computer screen and find themselves transformed into pilgrims as they are led to the Jewish Temple destroyed 2,000 years ago.

The computer simulation is part of a new interactive museum that opened Wednesday just outside the Al Aqsa Mosque, which sits on land where Jews believe the remains of their two Temples -- one built by King Solomon and the second by King Herod -- are buried.

The sacred compound revered by Muslims and Jews is the most sensitive spot in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A dispute over final control over the hilltop helped derail peace talks and triggered fighting that began seven months ago.

Muslim clerics who administer the compound, known to Muslims as Haram as-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, claim there is no archaeological proof that the Jewish Temples once stood in the place of the Al Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques.

The new Israeli display "is not a museum of historical events, but a factory of lies," said Adnan Husseini, director of the Islamic Trust that administers the site.

Israel, in turn, bitterly complains that Muslims have recklessly discarded important archaeological artifacts, including those tracing the compound's Jewish history, as part of the construction of underground prayer halls.

The opening of the multimillion-dollar museum near the southwestern corner of the Al Aqsa compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, came at a time of crisis in the tourism industry caused by the unrest that has claimed more than 470 lives.

Israel hopes the show will draw foreigners back to visit.

The computer simulation is housed in what used to be the basement of a palace from which Muslim Caliphs ruled the area in the 7th century.

In the high-tech computer simulation, developed with the University of California at Los Angeles, visitors are guided by computer images under a high gateway, known today as Robinson's Arch, and up a grand staircase to the majestic Second Temple, as it stood before the Romans destroyed it in 70 A.D.

The computer program, like a flight simulator, takes the audience into the wide plaza surrounding the Temple. The royal portico adorns one side of the courtyard with four rows of columns. The square sanctuary, decorated with a gold frieze, rises high above the covered heads of virtual Jewish pilgrims on the other side.