| Temple Mount | |
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The site of the First and Second Temples – Today there are over 100 structures from many different periods on the Mount, the most famous of which are the (Gold) Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aksa Mosque. |
| The present Temple Mount area is the result of King Herod the Great's extension of Mount Moriah in order to enlarge the premises surrounding the Second Temple. On the summit of Mount Moriah is the ''Foundation Stone'' – ''from which the world was created.'' According to Midrashic literature, the Binding of Isaac and other key events in early Jewish history happened at this site. For example, King David conquered the Jebusite city ca. 1000 B.C.E., and made it the capital of the new United Jewish Kingdom. Later, he purchased Mount Moriah from the Jebusite King Aravna and built an altar to the Lord on the site. He also brought the Holy Ark to Jerusalem and designated Mount Moriah as the holy site upon which his son, King Solomon, would build the Holy Temple. This Temple stood for about 400 years, until the conquest and destruction of Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia. After 70 years of exile, Cyrus the Great allowed the Jewish people to return to their country and to begin to rebuild the Holy Temple on this same site. The rebuilt Temple was not as splendid as King Solomon's, but after Judah Maccabeus defeated the Syrian King Antiochus the Great in 164 B.C.E., and rededicated the Holy Temple, the Hasmonean dynasty apparently did a significant amount of renovation and expansion of the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount today was constructed by Herod the Great, famous builder of Masada, Herodion, Caesarea, and other architectural wonders. Herod built four massive supporting walls around Mount Moriah, almost doubling the length of the Western and Eastern Walls, and ''hanging'' a platform upon them. He filled in the empty spaces between with arched passageways and with dirt. Upon this expanded platform he rebuilt the Temple Mount to extend over an area of 140 dunams. Herod thus an asymmetrical rectangle whose longest wall, the Western Wall , is 488 meters long. Upon the Mount, he placed three monumental buildings: The Holy Temple itself (about 50 meters high), the Royal Stoa in the south (surrounded by 162 pillars, two stories high), and the Antonia Fortress in the north. These three structures, together with the upper courses of the four supporting walls, were destroyed on the ninth of Av, 70 C.E., by Titus and his Roman army. In the second century, a pagan temple was constructed on the site, known as Aelia Capitolina. But for most of the period until the Moslem conquest in 638 C.E., the Mount was desolate and in ruins. Caliph Omar al-Khatib was the first to remove the debris and rebuild the Mount. By the early ninth century, the Moslem holy places, the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aksa Mosque , had been constructed. Today, there are over 100 buildings on the Temple Mount, for prayer, education, religious ceremonies, and ornamentation. In Arabic, it is known as ''Haram al-Sharif'' – the noble holy site. Many gates lead to the Temple Mount: On the north – the Gate of the Tribes, the Gate of Forgiveness (Bab Chutta), and the Dark Gate. On the west – Gawanimma Gate, the Majles Gate, the Iron Gate, the Cotton Merchants' Gate, the Purification Gate, the Gate of the Chains (Shalshelet), and the Mograbi Gate. This last is the only gate through which non-Moslems are permitted to enter. Today, no other gates are open. However, there are remnants of earlier gates on the east – the Gates of Mercy – and on the south – the Single Gate, the Double Gate, and the Triple Gate, the last two dating back to the Second Temple Period. There are remnants of three other Second Temple Period Gates on the Western Wall – Warren's Gate, Barclay's Gate, and the Gate above Robinson's Arch. All are closed today. |
 Ha-Shalshelet |
 Winter - 7:30-10:30, 12:30-13:00
Summer - 8:00-11:30, 13:30-15:00
Except Fridays |
 02-6226250 |
 1, 2, |
 Free |
 At Sun, Thurs. 7:30-11:00
13:30-14:30 |
 Available |
 No entrance to the Mosques |
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