Doomed Tomb (1289 AD)

I went out for an early morning walk from my hotel in Jerusalem and stumbled upon this gem--unlike anything one would find in Ontario.

The Mamilla Cemetery is a millennium-old Muslim graveyard, including a mausoleum, which houses bodies from some of the first Muslims in the world's history.

In the middle of the cemetery lies the Mamilla Pool, an early water reservoir around which early war casualties were buried. However, when Jerusalem came under Islamic rule in 638 ad, the cemetery was taken over as the final resting place for the city's most prominent emirs, muftis and mystics, as well as high ranking Muslim government officials. Documents from its early days dictate that some close friends of the Muslim prophet Muhammad were buried here.

The marked graves range in date from the mid 1000s to the 1600s, but the crown jewel of this cemetery is the mausoleum and tomb of emir Aidughdi Kubaki, which dates to the year 1289.

The cemetery is currently abandoned, and the source of much controversy as a massive museum is being constructed beside it. No one maintains the cemetery officially, making it a massive trove of history fading away to the elements.