The Mamilla Cemetery is a historic Muslim cemetery located just to the west of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. The cemetery contains the remains of figures from the early Islamic period, Sufi shrines and Mamluk era tombs. The cemetery grounds also contain the bodies of thousands of Christians killed in the pre Islamic era as well as several tombs from the time of the Crusades. Its identity as an Islamic cemetery is noted by Arab and Persian writers as early as the 11th century. It was used as a burial site until 1927 when the Supreme Muslim Council decided to preserve it as a historic site. Following the 1948 Arab Israeli War the cemetery and other Waqf properties in West Jerusalem fell under the control of Israeli governmental bodies. A number of buildings, a road, a park, a parking lot and public lavatories have since been constructed on the cemetery grounds, destroying grave markers and tombs.
The Jerusalem Waldorf Astoria Hotel is located on the corner of Agron and David Hamelech Streets in a building that housed the Arab owned luxury Palace Hotel in the 1920s. The building was purchased in 2006, renovated but has retained the facade of the beautiful Palace hotel. It is designed around an inner courtyard of pale Jerusalem stone along with the signature grandfather clock, which features in Waldorf Astoria hotels around the world. This first Waldorf Astoria in Israel has 227 rooms and a residential wing with 30 luxury apartments. It was opened in 2014.
