Western Wall Tunnel

The Western Wall Tunnel (Hebrew: מנהרת הכותל / Minheret Hakotel) is a tunnel that extends the entire length of the Western Wall . The tunnel runs next to the Western Wall and lies beneath buildings in Jerusalem's Old City . While the openly accessible part of the Western Wall is only about 60 meters long, most of the Western Wall has not been exposed and is underground. The tunnel enables access over a total length of 485 meters.

history

In 19 BC King Herod began a construction project in the area of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Four retaining walls were built around the Temple Mount , and the Temple Mount was extended to the retaining walls. These retaining walls remained in place even after the temple itself was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70.

After the year 70, however, large parts of the walls were removed. Only part of the former western border remained; today's Western Wall. A much larger part of the western wall of the former temple is still underground and has been built over.

excavation

British explorers began excavating the Western Wall in the mid-19th century. Charles Wilson in 1864, followed by Charles Warren 1867–1870. Wilson discovered an arch named after him, the Wilson Arch , which is 12.8 meters wide and is above today's ground level. It is believed that the arch was part of a bridge that connected the Temple Mount to the city during the Second Temple Period.

After the Six Day War , the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Israel began excavations with the aim of uncovering the entire western wall of the temple. The excavations lasted nearly 20 years and revealed many previously unknown facts about the history and geography of the Temple Mount. To make matters worse, the underground part of the Western Wall runs under residential areas on structures from the time of the Second Temple. The excavations were supervised by scientific and religious experts. Since 1988, the excavation, maintenance and renovation of the western wall and the area in front of it have been financed by the state-controlled Foundation for the Legacy of the Western Wall .

Properties of the tunnel

The tunnel has a total length of 485 meters. With the help of the tunnel, the entire remaining western wall of the temple is accessible. Many archaeological finds were made during the excavations, including finds from the time of Herod (streets, masonry), sections of a reconstruction of the Western Wall from the Umayyad period and various structures from the Hasmonean , Ayyubid and Mamluk periods .

The Warren Gate is about 46 meters deep in the tunnel. Rabbi Yehuda Getz built a small synagogue at this small, locked entrance. At this point a Jew can come closest to the sanctum of the former temple. On the northern part of the western wall remains of a water pipe that originally supplied water to the Temple Mount have been found. The canal runs through an underground pool of water known as the Struthion Basin , but the exact source of the canal is unknown.

The Weststein, weighing 510 tons

The largest stone in the Western Wall, often referred to as the Wailing Stone , also lies within the tunnel and is considered to be one of the heaviest objects ever moved by people without modern machine power. The stone has a length of 13.6 meters, a height of 3 meters and an estimated depth between 2 and 3.5 meters. Its weight is estimated at over 500 tons.

Adjacent to the tunnel is a museum called Sharsheret Ha Dorot ( Chain of Generations ) by Eliav Nahlieli. It shows ancient and modern Jewish history and includes an audio-visual show and nine glass sculptures created by glass artist Jeremy Langford.

In 2007 the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) uncovered an old Roman road, probably from the second to fourth centuries. It was a back road that likely connected two major roads and led to the Temple Mount. The discovery of the road made it clear that the Romans the Temple Mount after the destruction have continued used of the Temple in 70 AD. Chr..