The New Gate is the newest gate among Jerusalem's Old City Walls, built in 1898 to provide direct access to the Christian Quarter for the visit of the German Emperor William II. (larger image)

Open Gates

New Gate

It is also called the Gate of Hammid after the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II. The gate is located in the northwestern part of the wall and faces north.

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, when Jordan captured East Jerusalem (which includes the Old City of Jerusalem panorama above) it was sealed off. It was reopened again in 1967 after Israel's capture of East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War.

Huldah Gate

Name

Two possible etymologies are given for the name: "Huldah" means "mole" or "mouse" in Hebrew, and the tunnels leading up from these gates called to mind the holes or tunnels used by these animals. Alternatively, in a possible folk etymology, the First Temple (Temple of Solomon) prophetess Huldah was said to have held court in this area and, indeed, her tomb was placed here by some as well.

Past excavations

The Damascus Gate
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The original gate was presumably built in Second Temple times. The Romans built a new gate at the time of Hadrian, in the second century AD. In front of the gate stood a Roman victory column, shown on the Madaba Map, thus giving the gate its name in Arabic to this day, Bab el-Amud, The Column Gate. The column has never been found, but the Roman gate can be seen today, due to excavations made during the British Mandate of Palestine. This was the northern entrance gate to the city at the time of the Crusades.

The gate has two towers, each equipped with machicolations (an opening in the floor between the corbels of a projecting gallery or parapet, as on a wall or in the vault of a passage, through which missiles, molten lead, etc., might be cast upon an enemy beneath)[1]. It is located at the edge of the Arab bazaar and marketplace. In contrast to The Jaffa Gate, where stairs rise towards the gate, in the Damascus Gate, the stairs descend towards the gate. In 1972, right-wing activist Rabbi Meir Kahane proposed that mezuzot be attached to the gate, to secure the Jewish claim to the gate. After repeated protests from Arab residents, the Israeli government refused to consider Kahane's proposal. Today, only three of the Old City's gates have mezuzot attached.

While the proper English name of the gate is "Damascus Gate", in Hebrew it is called Sha'ar Shechem, meaning "Shechem (Nablus) Gate". Israeli media therefore frequently refer to the gate as 'Shechem (Nablus) Gate' in English language publications as well.

Some 200 additional students headed towards the Temple Mount, chanting nationalistic slogans. Police securing the Nablus Gate dispersed the developing riot with stun grenades. No injuries were reported. Two police officers were lightly wounded from rocks thrown by protestors in the Salach a-Din area in East Jerusalem[4]

The Lions' Gate, Old City, Jerusalem
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Detail of Lion carvings are actually leopards[2]
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Located in the east wall, the entrance marks the beginning of the traditional Christian observance of the last walk of Jesus from prison to execution, the Via Dolorosa. Near the gate's crest are four figures of lions, two on the left and two on the right. Legend has it that Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent placed the figures there because he believed that if he did not construct a wall around Jerusalem he would be killed by lions.

Israeli paratroops from the 55th Paratroop Brigade came through this gate during the Six-Day War[2] of 1967 and unfurled the Israeli flag above The Temple Mount.

The Lions' Gate is not to be confused with The Zion Gate in the Old City Wall, located in the south, leading to the Jewish and Armenian Quarters.

The magnificent walls of Jerusalem's Old City were built by the Ottoman Empire under the direct supervision of Sultan Suleiman in 1542. The walls stretch for approximately 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) and rise to a height of 5–15 meters (16–49 feet), with a thickness of 3 meters (10 feet). Altogether, the Old City walls contain 43 surveillance towers and 11 gates, seven of which are presently open.[3]

Dung Gate in the 1940s, before it was enlarged in 1952
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The gate is situated near the southeast corner of the old city, southwest of The Temple Mount.

The gate is the closest to The Western Wall and is a main passage for vehicles. It was originally much smaller, but was enlarged in 1952, after the Old City came under Jordanian control in 1948.

After its recapture by Israel, architect Shlomo Aronson was commissioned to renovate this gate. Directly behind the gate lies the entrance to the Western Wall compound. At night, Egged city buses pass through the gate to the Western Wall bus stop which lies just behind the gate; during the day, the buses stop on the road outside of the gate, because the increased number of buses cluttered up the bus stop inside the Old City walls.

Name

¹³ Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate. They rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall, as far as the Dung Gate.

¹⁴ Malchijah the son of Rechab, ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem, repaired the Dung Gate. He rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

The name Mograbi gate (Bab El Magharbeh) is called after the Moors' history in the area.

The Zion Gate
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Located in the South of the Old City, it leads to the Armenian and Jewish Quarters. In 1967, the Israel Defense Forces used this gate to enter and capture the Old City. The stones surrounding the gate are still pockmarked by weapons fire.

Jaffa Gate (Gate of the Friend, Chevron Gate, Bab al-Halil, The Gate of David's Prayer Shrine, Porta Davidi, Sha'ar Yaffo) in Jerusalem, Israel
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The Jaffa gate opens to a road, Jaffa Street that leads Israel's largest city, Tel Aviv, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. In ancient times, that road lead to the port city of Jaffa, which is now just along the southern edge of Tel Aviv.

On the Old City side of the Jaffa Gate is a small square between the Christian and Armenian Quarters.

The Christian Quarter is to the north, on the left, and the Armenian Quarter is to the South, on the right. Straight ahead an Arab 'shuq' (market) runs due east along a narrow street that leads to Muslim Quarters. The Jewish Quarter is accessed by a number of streets and alleyways running off the gate square along a narrow street that leads to Muslim Quarters.

Herod's Gate, old city Jerusalem
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Herod's Gate

This modest gate is one of the newest gates of Jerusalem. At the time when Suleiman the Magnificent built the wall, a small wicket gate was situated in front of the current gate, which was rarely opened. By 1875, in order to provide a passageway to the neighborhoods which were beginning to develop north of the Old City, the Ottomans made a breach in the northern part of the structure and closed the original opening.

The gate is named after Herod the Great. That is because in the Crusaders' period a church was built near the gate in the belief that at the time of the Crucifixion of Jesus, Herod Antipas's house was situated at that spot. In its place today stands the church of Dir Al Ads.

In 1998 and during several subsequent excavation seasons (the latest in 2004), archaeologists of the Israel Antiquities Authority dug in the eastern area of Herod's Gate. The digging focused on three separate areas adjacent to the wall, in which nine archeological layers were discovered — covering from the Iron age up through the Turkish period. Among the most significant discoveries were structures from the period of the Second Temple, a complete segment of the Byzantine-Roman wall, and remnants of massive construction underneath the wall. These remnants were identified as portions of a fortification from the ancient Muslim period and from the Middle Ages. These discoveries point out the importance which the rulers of the city gave to the fortification of one of its most sensitive places—the northern wall of Jerusalem—as historical accounts indicate that circa 1099 the Crusader soldiers in the command of Godfrey of Bouillon entered the city through a breach located in proximity to the present Herod's Gate.

History of the citadel

The Hasmonean kings fortified the area with an impressive wall and large watchtowers, which the historian Flavius Josephus (1st century CE) refers to as the First Wall. King Herod the Great, who ruled in the late 1st century BCE, added three massive towers to the Hasmonean fortifications.

Their purpose was not only to defend the entrance to the city, but his own royal palace nearby. Of the three towers, only one — the Tower of Phasael — has survived, and still stands to a great height today.

Following the Siege of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE, the site served as barracks for the Roman troops.

With the adoption of Christianity as the imperial religion in the 4th century, a community of monks established itself there.

The Muslims, upon conquering Jerusalem in 638 CE, built a fortress on the site. The powerful Muslim fortress withstood the assault of the Crusaders in 1099 and surrendered only when its defenders were guaranteed safe passage out of the city.

The Crusaders built a large new citadel, surrounded by a moat, which also served as the seat of the Crusader King of Jerusalem.

In the 13th century, the citadel was again destroyed, and rebuilt in the 14th by the Mamluks. The citadel underwent further changes under the rule of the Ottoman Turkish (1516-1917). An impressive entrance was built, behind which was a cannon emplacement. The prominent minaret was added which, in time, would become known as the "Tower of David". For 400 years the citadel served to garrison Turkish troops.

The British army entered Jerusalem in December 1917, and on the platform outside the entrance to the citadel that General Allenby addressed the local inhabitants and declared freedom of worship in the Holy City.

The Pro-Jerusalem Society, established by the British High Commissioner to protect the city's cultural heritage, cleaned and renovated the citadel and opened it to the public as a venue for concerts, benefit events and exhibitions by local artists.

In the 1930s, a museum of Palestinian folklore was opened in the citadel, displaying traditional crafts and clothing.

After Israel's war of Independence in 1948, the citadel reverted to its traditional role as a military position of the Jordanian Arab Legion, as it had a dominant view across the armistice line into Jewish Jerusalem.

With the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967 after the Six Days War, the citadel's cultural role was revived.

Sealed gates

View of the Golden Gate as of 2003
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In Christian literature, the gate is referred as the Golden Gate, but in Arabic it is known as the Gate of Eternal Life. Jews used to pray for mercy at the gate, hence the name Sha'ar Harachamim, the Gate of Mercy.

The gate is located in the middle of the eastern side of the Temple Mount. The portal in this position was believed to have been used for ritual purposes in biblical times.

In Jewish tradition this is the gate through which Messiah will enter Jerusalem. It was sealed off in 1541 by Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I, allegedly to prevent the Messiah's entrance. The Muslims also built a cemetery in front of the gate, allegedly in the belief that the Messiah would not be able to pass through without risk of impurifying himself.

The Golden Gate is one of the few sealed gates in the Jerusalem Old City Walls, along with the Huldah Gates, and a small Biblical and Crusader-era postern located several stories above ground on the southern side of the eastern wall.

see also: The Old City of Jerusalem

Single Gate

The eastern set of Hulda gates as it stands today.
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Name

Two possible etymologies are given for the name: "Huldah" means "mole" or "mouse" in Hebrew, and the tunnels leading up from these gates called to mind the holes or tunnels used by these animals. Alternatively, in a possible folk etymology, the First Temple prophetess Huldah was said to have held court in this area and, indeed, her tomb was placed here by some as well.

Past excavations

The Temple Mount Faithful Movement

Huldah Gates were the main entrances to the Temple Mount where millions of Jews came from the city of David and other places three times a year, as a pilgrimage. The Arabs blocked these gates after they occupied the Temple Mount. They blocked them, together with the Eastern Gate, because they know that the Messiah will come through them in the endtimes to his holy hill, to redeem Israel. They also know that the people of Israel will once again enter the Temple Mount through the Hulda Gate, so they blocked these gates. They believe that by doing this they can stop the coming of the G-d of Israel and His Messiah back to His holy hill, to His holy Temple. Sometimes we feel that G-d has made His enemies stupid, like in biblical times. They really believe that by blocking the Eastern Gate and the Hulda Gate, and by locating a cemetery in front of the Eastern Gate, that they can stop the coming of G-d and His Messiah to their holy hill.

We stood in the front of the Hulda Gate with great excitement as we felt millions of Israelis walking on the same ground, on the same steps, back to the Temple Mount to worship in the Temple. We strongly felt the Presence of G-d. His spirit was among us, as if He was telling us, "I waited for you for almost 2,00 years. Open the gates and build My house exactly as I told King David." We could also feel the presence of the spirit of King David among us. At this very exciting moment, for the very first time in the history of Israel, Israelis came to light the Hanukkah menorah — which is so similar to the Temple menorah — in the front of the holy gates of the Temple Mount. When we lit the menorah, our friends blew the two silver trumpets that the Faithful Movement reconstructed according to the biblical law to be used in the Temple. The sound of the trumpets was loud, and it was sent directly to the location of the Temple, in the middle of the Temple Mount. Gershon called upon the Israeli leadership and government and the people of Israel to immediately open the Hulda Gates for Israeli worshipers so that they might enter the Temple Mount in the same way that our forefathers had entered. He said for them to do it without delay as this is what G-d has been expecting Israel to do for so many years. Gershon also called upon the people of Israel to stop praying and worshiping outside of the Temple Mount, near the Western Wall as it is an expression of exile and destruction. He called upon them to go up and pray and worship on the holy hill of G-d, to immediately start building the Temple of G-d. This exciting, godly event ended with the song of "Hatikvah -- a song of great hope for Israel and all our wonderful friends around the world for the rebuilding of the Temple and the coming of Moshiach ben David in the life of our generation.

Notes

1. «Dictionary.reference.com. machicolations Retrieved 5/3/2010
2. «"The Israeli paratroopers broke into the Old City in the Six-Day War via this gate" Jerusalem municipality website⁠. Retrieved 5/3/2010
3. «"Keys to the Treasure Trove - Jerusalem's Old City Gates" By Heike Zaun-Goshen. The Jerusalem Post Millennium Special⁠. Retrieved 5/3/2010
4. «Ynetnews » East J'lem: Students calling nationalistic chants dispersed

   (Ynetnews is the English-language website from Yedioth Group, and a sister site to Ynet, Israel’s leading news web site. Ynetnews provides Jewish communities and others worldwide interested in Israel with the same authoritative, fast, and world-class news reporting and commentary Hebrew-speakers receive from Ynet and “Yedioth Ahronoth,” Israel’s most-read newspaper.)

5. Shlomo Aronson. "Landscape Selected Projects List by Shlomo Aronson".