Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem
This article lists the gates of the
During different periods, the city walls followed different outlines and had a varying number of gates. During the era of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099–1291), Jerusalem had four gates, one on each side.[citation needed]
The current walls of the Old City of Jerusalem were built between 1533 and 1540 on orders of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who provided them with seven gates: six new gates were built, and the older and previously sealed Golden Gate was reopened (only to be re-sealed again after a few years). The seven gates at the time of Suleiman were, clockwise and by their current name: the Damascus Gate; Herod's Gate; Lions' Gate; Golden Gate; Dung Gate; Zion Gate; and Jaffa Gate.
With the re-sealing of the Golden Gate by Suleiman, the number of operational gates was only brought back to seven in 1887, with the addition of the New Gate.
Until 1887,[citation needed] each gate was closed before sunset and opened at sunrise.
List
The seven gates at the time of Suleiman were: Damascus Gate; Golden Gate; Herod's Gate; Jaffa Gate; Lions' Gate; Silwan Gate (also known as Mughrabi Gate, and now as Dung Gate); and Zion Gate. After the re-sealing of the Golden Gate already in Suleiman's time, the number of operational gates was only brought back to seven with the addition of the New Gate in 1887.
English | Hebrew | Arabic | Alternative names | Construction year | Location | Status | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Golden Gate | Sha'ar HaRahamim
שער הרחמים "Gate Of Mercy" |
Bab al-Dhahabi / al-Zahabi, "Golden Gate"
باب الذهبي |
A double gate, last sealed in 1541. In Arabic also known as the Gate of Eternal Life.[citation needed] In Arabic each door has its own name:
|
6th century | Northern third of eastern side | Sealed | |
Damascus Gate | Sha'ar Shkhem
שער שכם "Nablus Gate" |
Bab al-Amoud
باب العمود |
Sha'ar Damesek, Nablus Gate, Gate of the Pillar | 1537 | Middle of northern wall | Open | |
Herod's Gate | Sha'ar HaPerachim
שער הפרחים "Gate Of The Flowers" |
Bab al-Sahira
باب الساهرة |
Sha'ar Hordos, Flower Gate, Sheep Gate | 1537; greatly expanded in 1875 | East part of northern wall | Open | |
Dung Gate / Silwan Gate / Maghrabi Gate | Sha'ar HaAshpot
שער האשפות "Gate Of Trash" |
Bab al-Maghariba
باب المغاربة |
Gate of Silwan, Sha'ar HaMugrabim | 1538–40 | East part of southern wall | Open | |
Lions' Gate | Sha'ar HaArayot
שער האריות |
Bab al-Asbatt
باب الأسباط |
Gate of Yehoshafat,
St. Stephen's Gate, Gate of the Tribes, St. Mary's Gate (باب ستي مريم, Bab Sittna Maryam) |
1538–39 | North part of eastern wall | Open | |
Jaffa Gate | Sha'ar Yafo
שער יפו |
Bab al-Khalil
باب الخليل |
The Gate of David's Prayer Shrine,
Porta Davidi |
1530–40 | Middle of western wall | Open | |
Zion Gate | Sha'ar Tzion
שער ציון |
Bab al-Nabi Da'oud
باب النبي داود |
Gate to the Jewish Quarter | 1540 | Middle of southern wall | Open | |
New Gate | HaSha'ar HeHadash
השער החדש |
Al-Bab al-Jedid
الباب الجديد |
Gate of Hammid | 1887 | West part of northern wall | Open |
Previous gates
A smaller entrance, popularly known as the Tanners' Gate,[citation needed] has been opened for visitors after being discovered and unsealed during excavations in the 1990s.[citation needed]
Sealed historic gates, other than the Golden Gate, comprise three that are at least partially preserved (the Single, Triple, and Double Gates in the southern wall),[citation needed] with several other gates discovered by archaeologists of which only traces remain (the so-called Gate of the Essenes on Mount Zion, the gate of Herod's royal palace south of the citadel, and the vague remains of what 19th-century explorers identified as the Gate of the Funerals (Bab al-Jana'iz) or of al-Buraq (Bab al-Buraq) south of the Golden Gate).[1]
English | Hebrew | Arabic | Alternative names | Construction year | Location | Status | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
"Tanners' Gate" [citation needed] | Sha'ar HaBursekaim
שער הבורסקאים |
12th century [citation needed] | East part of southern wall | Open | |||
Excavators' Gate [citation needed] | Excavation Gate. (Eastern gate of the main Caliph Al-Walid I (705–715). Destroyed by an earthquake around 749, walled up when the Ottoman wall was built (1537–41), reopened and rebuilt by archaeologists led by Benjamin Mazar and Meir Ben-Dov in 1968.)[2][3]
|
705–715, 1968 [citation needed] | Wall south of Al-Aqsa Mosque | Open | |||
Single Gate [citation needed] | This gate led to the underground area of the Temple Mount known as Solomon's Stables | Herodian period | Southern wall of Temple Mount
|
Sealed | |||
Huldah Gates | Sha'arei Chulda
שערי חולדה |
Two gates:
|
Herodian period | Southern wall of Temple Mount
|
Sealed |
See also
References
- ISBN 9789004173279. Archived from the original(PDF) on 27 September 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
- ^ "The Function and Plan of the 'Palaces'". The Jerusalem Archaeological Park – Davidson Center. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ^ Meir Ben-Dov (1987). The Excavation Gate (18). Jerusalem: East Jerusalem Development Ltd. p. 20.
Thus for all intents and purposes, a ninth gate has been opened in the walls of Jerusalem.
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