Room of the Last Supper, Jerusalem

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The Room of the Last Supper, also called Cenacle, is believed to be the place where Jesus gathered with His disciples for a meal before He was arrested. The word "Cenacle" means "Upper Room", and this particular upper room of the Last Supper fame is located in a building a short distance from the Hagia Maria Sion Abbey on the southwest side of Old Jerusalem, outside the Zion Gate.

According to Christian belief, this room of the Last Supper is also where the Holy Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost. When Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70, this site was not spared, and became the site of the first Christian church, only to be destroyed by Persian invaders later on. After Muslims razed the original building, the Crusaders built a basilica over it in 1333 with Franciscan monks as its guardians. The monks were evicted by the Turks in 1552, and the Room of the Last Supper was turned into a mosque.

Christians never get to set foot in the Room of the Last Supper until the state of Israel was established in 1948. Following the visit by Pope John Paul II, the Israeli government allowed Catholics to take ownership of the site in return for a church in Toledo, Spain, which was turned into a Jewish synagogue.

The Room of the Last Supper is divided into three naves by pillars. The architectural style, which bore Gothic elements, points to the Crusaders as its builder, and so it is not the room in question. It is built over an older structure which is believed to be a church of synagogue of early Christians. There is no conclusive evidence to suggest that it is the actual site where the Last Supper took place.

Room of the Last Supper, Photo: Assaf Shtilman, GNU Free Documentation License

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