Temple Mount הר הבית
Mount Moriah — site of the Akeda, of both Temples and of the Western Wall: Judaism's holiest place.
Tradition ties this hill to the earliest stories: the dust for Adam was taken here, Noach offered here, and Avraham brought Yitzchak to «the mountain of Moriah» on the third day. David buys the summit — Aravna's threshing floor — at full price so the title is undisputed, and Shlomo builds the Temple there.
Eight hundred and thirty years later, on 9 Av 3338, it is burned by the Babylonians. The Second Temple, dedicated in 3412, stands four hundred and twenty years, is rebuilt by Herod into a vast platform, and is destroyed by Rome in 3828 — again on 9 Av.
Herod's retaining walls survive, and the western one became the chief place of prayer. Halacha restricts access to the mount itself on grounds of ritual purity.