Jerusalem: The Dome and I

I took a private car tour of the city at night and as we came down from the mount of olives the driver suggested we try to visit the Haram Al shareef(temple mount) before they closed the doors for the night after the last prayer, of course I was so exited at the chance to shoot the dome of the rock, we parked our car just outside of Loins gate and ran towards one of the remaining open doorways, and proceeded to beg them to let us in for five minutes!

well as you can see they let us in, and it was magical! I absolutely love it when im at a location and its completely empty, it feeds my desire for "rediscovery" of places through my own eyes and lens, its also these moments when I feel most alive and happy!

A bit of info:
This is a shot of the dome of the rock, Built as a shrine by the Umayyads in 691ACE it used to be covered in beautiful golden mosaics similar to that of the Umayyad mosque in Damascus but ravaged by time the outside façade was ruined, up until the Ottoman Suleiman the magnificent who actually set up a tile factory next to the shrine to replace the outside. on a side note, it was him who restored the the City of Jerusalem to its former glory centuries after the crusades had devastated it.