Also called the ''Small Western Wall'', this is a segment of the Western Wall, in a small plaza near the Iron Gate entrance to the Temple Mount. This plaza is only about 20 meters long, almost the same length as the Western Wall was until the Six-Day War. The open area in front of it is also about the same size as the prayer plaza at the Western Wall before 1967. Unlike that plaza, the Kotel HaKatan is on the same level as the Temple Mount itself, and is closer to the site of the Holy of Holies than is the larger Western Wall Plaza. These are the only two segments of the Western Wall freely accessible to everyone today, as the rest of the Wall is buried behind Mameluke and Ottoman Turkish buildings.
To see the whole length of the Western Wall today, take the Western Wall Tunnel tour underneath the Moslem Quarter, almost to Lions' Gate.
To reach the Kotel HaKatan from the Western Wall Plaza, walk north on HaGai (El-Wad) Street until you reach Iron Gate Street. Then turn east to the Iron Gate and turn left just before the entrance to the Temple Mount.
Public prayer services are held there on Friday evenings, Shabbat afternoons, and on weekdays at 14:45 p.m. Security is provided by the Jerusalem Police.
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