c. 1998 Religion News Service

JERUSALEM _ Extending from the ancient steps of the Temple Mount to the Kidron Valley, the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane, the new”Valley of the Kings”is Jerusalem’s showcase for its year 2000 celebrations.

The massive network of gardens, pedestrian promenades and archeological excavations links key Christian sites in and around the historic Old City in a pilgrims’ circuit extending for several miles.

Traditionally, pilgrims wishing to retrace the last days of Jesus’ life _ from the room of the Last Supper to the site of Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, just north of the Old City walls, and back again to the Old City’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, were bused from point to point, snarling tourists in Jerusalem’s maddening traffic jams.

Now, with the completion of the new circuits, pilgrims can reach the same points easily on foot, said Yoel Marinov, director of the East Jerusalem Development Authority, the quasi-public city corporation directing the renovation work.

The new pilgrims’ path passes by the impressive southern entrance to the ancient Temple Mount, intact since Jesus’ time. Below the steps are newly uncovered Herodian streets dating to 30 A.D., and a new landscaped park of antiquities, ranging from Byzantine homes of the fifth and sixth century to more recent remains.

Heading northeast, the route descends the steep cliffs of the Kidron Valley to Gethsemane and the Mount of Olives, site of the ancient Jewish burial ground, where Christians believe that Jesus ascended to heaven and will someday return to earth again. Another new promenade leads up from the valley and back to the Old City and the ancient pilgrims’ route to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The $15-million Valley of the Kings project _ which takes its name from a legendary garden of the biblical King David, believed to be sited nearby _ is one of a half-dozen projects being undertaken in the city at a cost of about $30 million to prepare for the millennium, said Marinov.

Massive illumination of the walkways and holy sites will make the circuits accessible at night, he added, easing the flow of pilgrims at certain bottlenecks should the flow of tourists dramatically increase in the year 2000, as is expected.

Marinov estimated that the new routes can easily accommodate over 1,000 pilgrims per hour. Logjams are still expected to occur, however, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where capacity is limited to only a few thousand pilgrims daily, and disputes between the different Christian denominations that control the site have impeded much-needed renovations.

Other projects in and around the city include a new shuttle-bus system to move tourists to and from the walled Old City; a new $5-million bus terminal on the border between Jerusalem and Bethlehem to ease passage between Israeli- and Palestinian- controlled territories; renovation of the Old City’s Room of the Last Supper; and construction of an underground”virtual”visitor’s center and auditorium near the Valley of the Kings promenades, featuring historical and archeological videos.

Jerusalem’s hotel capacity also is being expanded by about 25 percent _ from about 8,000 to 10,000 rooms by the year 2000, Ministry of Tourism officials add. If tourism hits the hoped-for peaks, then additional guests will be channeled to beds available in the kibbutz guest houses within a 20- to 30-minute drive from the city.

Outside of the holy city, military airports and seaports are being prepared to accommodate an overflow of pilgrims, should Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport become gridlocked with tourists. Tourism Ministry official Vardit Kaplan, said the final number of tourists will be determined by the number of hotel beds available.”No one will come in that doesn’t have a bed,”Kaplan said.

Still, many officials remain worried that sheer logistics remain the weak link in the millennial preparations and fear Israel will be embarrassed if ease of movement is seriously impeded by the sheer masses of pilgrims involved _ particularly in crowded Jerusalem, whose mass transit system is wholly reliant on buses.”The logistical problems are very big,”said Rabbi David Rosen, a member of a Vatican-Israeli working group.”Just in terms of the volume of buses moving in and out of the holy city and pilgrims moving in and out of the Holy Sepulchre, you’re talking about potential nightmare scenarios.” IR END FLETCHER