The Gospel of Luke records Jesus’ ascension into heaven after his resurrection: “Then he led them out as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven” (Lk 24:50-51).

The road to Bethany from Jerusalem passes over the Mt. of Olives, and this is where the first Christians gathered to venerate the place of Jesus’ ascension. They gathered in a cave, however, because it would have been risky to worship in the open. This cave could have been the one in the Church of the Pater Noster, which would make sense—it is less than 100 yards away from the site of the ascension, giving them the chance to secretly return to a place near the last place they saw Jesus.

After Constantine legitimized Christianity and his mother, Helen, visited the Holy Land to secure and preserve places for pilgrims to venerate Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, veneration of the place of ascension moved out onto a nearby open hill. This is where a church was built—a simple stone gazebo without a roof, open to the sky. That church was later destroyed and Crusaders built an octagonal replica, again with an open roof, and surrounded it with a walled courtyard because it was in a strategic location overseeing the city; it became a fortified monastery. (Explore the location on a map here.)

When Muslim invaders captured Jerusalem, they turned the chapel into a mosque, filling in the arches of the gazebo and placing a dome on top. It has remained under Muslim control ever since. Muslims understand Jesus as a prophet, and though it isn’t mentioned in the Koran, their tradition holds that Jesus ascended into heaven, so they have preserved the chapel as a shrine (they built a more extensive mosque outside of the fortified walls) and continue to welcome pilgrims. Muslims allow Mass to be celebrated here twice a year—on the feast of the ascension, which falls on two different dates for the Eastern and Western Church.

The stone chapel is unadorned inside and out. Its distinguishing feature is a stone framed in the floor. The stone could have been a simple outcropping that marked the spot from where Christians believed Jesus departed earth, but was singled out because depressions in the rock form the shape of a footprint. Tradition regards this as the last impression Jesus’ right foot made on earth, before he rose to heaven.