Gates in Jerusalem's Old City Walls

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are eight (nine) gates in Jerusalem's Old City Walls.

Gates in Jerusalem's Old City Walls

Name	Alternative names	Construction Year	Location
The New Gate, [1]	HaSha`ar HeḤadash, Gate of Ḥammid, Al-Bab al-Jedid	1887	West of northern side
The Damascus Gate, [2]	Sha`ar Shkhem, Sha`ar Dameseq, Nablus Gate, Bab al`Amoud- The Gate of the Pillar	1537 AD	Middle of northern side
Herod's Gate, [3]	Sha'ar HaPerachim- Flower Gate, Sha`ar Hordos, the Sheep Gate, Bab-a-Sahairad	???	East of northern side
The Lion Gate, [4]	Sha`ar Ha'arayot, The Gate of Jehoshafat, St. Mary's Gate--Bab Sitt Maryam, St. Stephen's Gate, The Gate of the Tribes	1538-39	North of eastern side
The Golden Gate, [5]	Sha`ar Haraḥamim--Gate of Mercy, the Gate of Eternal Life	6th century AD	Middle of eastern side
The Dung Gate, [6]	Sha`ar Ha'ashpot, Gate of Silwan, Mograbi Gate, Sha`ar HaMugrabim, Bāb al-Maghāriba	1538-40	East of southern side
The Zion Gate, [7]	Sha`ar Tzion, Gate of the Prophet David, Gate to the Jewish Quarter	1540	Middle of southern side
The Jaffa Gate, [8]	Sha`ar Yaffo, Bab al-Ḫalil--Hebron Gate, The Gate of David's Prayer Shrine, Porta Davidi	1530-40	Middle of western side

Note: The links after the gate names link to photos of the gates

Jerusalem
Names History Timeline Places Old City Gates Buildings Demographics Mayors Religions Judaism Christianity Islam Mandaeism Positions Transportation Education
v • d • e

The first of each of the alternate names is the Hebrew version of the name. Other alternate names are traditional Arabic, Christian, or Jewish names.

Next to Jaffa Gate is a gap in the wall, originally a filled-in moat, which is the main route into the Old City and is usually called "the Jaffa Gate." There is also another opening next to the Dung Gate, and the original Roman gates (one large gate flanked by a small gate on each side) can be seen below street level at the Damascus Gate.

There is also another series of blocked gates called the Huldah Gates, accessible from the Southern Wall Excavations. Dating from the Herodian period, these sets of gates (one single, one double, and one triple) were used by pilgrims coming to the Second Temple and were within the city walls until Crusader times. The gates lead to a series of tunnels beneath the Temple Mount. Because of the large crowds of people that thronged the Temple during the pilgrimage festival, one gate was used to enter the Temple compound and the other to exit it. One exception was mourners, who would use the opposite route. There are many more gates to the Temple Mount within the walls of the Old City.

See also: Jerusalem's Old City Walls, Jerusalem's Old City, City gate

[edit] External links and references

• Resources > Jerusalem The Jewish History Resource Center, Project of the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• http://www.amyisrael.co.il/brijnet/aje/j3000/gates/j3000.htm