Wilson's Arch

Wilson's Arch is the modern name for the ancient stone arch whose top is still visible today, where it is supported against the Northeast corner of Jerusalem's Western Wall. It once spanned 42 feet, supporting a road that continued for 75 feet and allowed access to a gate that was level with the surface of the Temple Mount during the time of Jesus.

Let's see how it once looked.

You can see things have been built up on top of the arch. I kind of think the arches to the left of it may be part of the structure that held up the road to the temple mount.

From Wikipedia: The arch was identified in 1864 by 19th-century explorer and surveyor Charles William Wilson, for whom it is now named. Wilson had joined the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem in 1864, continuing to participate in the city surveying project that was established to improve the city's water system.

It was one of the largest free-standing masonry arches in the world during the time it was constructed and utilized. The "majestic size and the enormous stones testify to Herod's magnificent aspirations.

The Western Stone, located in the north section of the Arch, is a monolithic stone block forming part of the lower level of the Western Wall. Weighing 628 tons it is one of the largest building blocks in the world. The stone is 44.6 ft.long, 15 ft. wide and has an estimated height of 11.5 ft. It is considered to be one of the heaviest objects ever lifted by human beings without powered machines. It is the largest building stone found in Israel and second in the world. It is only partially intact, the rest was destroyed in 70 CE during the Roman siege of Jerusalem.


So my question is, "Why did it need to be discovered?" It looks pretty obvious. Here is what I found. Apparently, this area, like the Ophel Garden was completely covered for centuries!


From Wikipedia: In 1968, only a few months after the Six Day War, Israel began excavations to uncover the portion of the Western Wall that was not exposed. As the excavations continued, the opening to the arch was uncovered, and rubble began to be removed. It would take 17 years, until 1985, until the entire length of the wall would be cleared.

Israeli workers renovated and restored the area for three years, strengthening the arch in preparation for access for visitors and use for prayer. Scaffolding remained in place for over a year to allow workers to remove cement that had been applied as patches over the stone.

Wilson's Arch is now used as an entry into a tunnel used for prayer for Jewish men and women, who have their separate sections. I do not understand when the tunnel was made, because it seems like it was not the original intention of the arch. But now, when one enters it, here is what is found.

The restoration included additions to the men's section included a Torah arkthat can house over one hundred Torah scrolls, in addition to new bookshelves, a library, and heating for the winter and air conditioning for the summer.There is also a new room built for the scribes who maintain and preserve the Torah scrolls used at the Wall.

New construction also included a women's section and gallery, which was dedicated on May 25, 2006, a little more than two months after the March dedication ceremony.This addition creates a woman's section to allow separate seating during worship services and special events conducted within the Wilson's Arch prayer area, including Bar Mitzvah ceremonies, and advertisements for special programs such as the middle-of-the-night prayers climaxing the six-week "Shoavim" period have made a point of reminding women that this new area exists. According to the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, this new construction allows women for the first time to "take part in the services held inside under the Arch." On May 14, 2008, United States First Lady Laura Bush visited the new women's section during her visit to Israel.

On July 25, 2010, a Ner Tamid, an oil-burning "eternal light," was installed within the prayer hall within Wilson's Arch, the first eternal light installed in the area of the Western Wall. According to the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, requests have been made for many years that "an olive oil lamp be placed in the prayer hall of the Western Wall Plaza, as is the custom in Jewish synagogues, to represent the menorah of the Temple in Jerusalem as well as the continuously burning fire on the altar of burnt offerings in front of the Temple, especially in the closest place to where they used to stand.

One last thing that confuses me. I get mixed up between Wilson's Arch and Robinson's Arch, which I wrote about a couple of posts ago. This diagram helps me see the their relationship as far as location, and purpose.

Western Wall Tunnel

From Wikipedia: The Western Wall Tunnel is an underground tunnel exposing the full length of the Western Wall. The tunnel is adjacent to the Western Wall and is located under buildings of the Old City of Jerusalem. While the open-air portion of the Western Wall is approximately 60 metres (200 ft) long, the majority of its original length is hidden underground. The tunnel allows access to an additional 485 metres (1,591 ft) of the wall.

In 19 BCE, King Herod undertook a project to double the area of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem by incorporating part of the hill on the Northwest. In order to do so, four retaining walls were constructed, and the Temple Mount was expanded on top of them. These retaining walls remained standing, along with the platform itself, after the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.

British researchers started excavating the Western Wall in the mid 19th century. Charles Wilson in 1864 followed by Charles Warren in 1867-70. Wilson discovered an arch now named for him, "Wilson's Arch" which was 12.8 metres (42 ft) wide and is above present-day ground level. It is believed that the arch supported a bridge which connected the Temple Mount to the city during the Second Temple Period. Warren dug shafts through Wilson’s Arch which are still visible today.

After the Six Day War, the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Israel began the excavations aimed at exposing the continuation of the Western Wall. The excavations lasted almost twenty years and revealed many previously unknown facts about the history and geography of the Temple Mount. The excavations were difficult to conduct, as the tunnels ran below residential neighborhoods constructed on top of ancient structures from the Second Temple Period. The excavations were conducted with the supervision of scientific and rabbinic experts. This was to ensure both the stability of the structures above and to prevent damaging the historic artifacts. In 1988 the Western Wall Heritage Foundation was formed, it took over the excavation, maintenance and renovations of the Western Wall and Western Wall Plaza.

Coins and Connections

The Ophel Gardens Excavation Site is producing some of the most exciting finds of the century. Piles of "garbage" that were removed from the area are now being sifted through. A coin from the second temple period (Christ's time)can remind us of the Widow's mite.

Mark 12:41-44 And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.

Click on the link above to view a scene showing how Christ taught the principal of true giving.

The Isaiah Inscription

Isaiah Inscription on the Western Wall, 5th century CE



"And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb”


This verse from Isaiah 66:14 was carved on a stone block in the western wall of the Temple Mount. A number of inscriptions carved by Jewish pilgrims at various times have been found in the Temple Mount area. They also generally added their names to the inscription.

There are a number of theories as to the dating of this inscription. It was first thought to have been carved by a Jewish pilgrim who came to Jerusalem during the rule of the Emperor Julian (361-363), when he granted permission to the Jews to rebuild the Temple. However, there are a number of problems arising out of such an assumption, among others dearth of information about the period.

Another theory believes that it was carved in the Umayyad period. In this period the street level was higher than it is today, and thus the person wishing to carve the inscription would be able to reach the stone block. It was in this period also that the Jews began to settle in the city once more, and the Jewish Quarter of the city was not far from the site of this inscription.

The most rational dating seems to be the Byzantine period. This possibility is based on the assumption that there is a link between this inscription and a letter sent by a Jew from Galilee in the fifth century. In this missive there were expressions of the feelings prevalent at the time among the Jews that the redemption was near: "Behold, the Roman kings have ordered that the gates of Jerusalem be returned to us. Speedily come up to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Tabernacles, for our kingdom is about to be rebuilt in Jerusalem." The time the letter was written and the sentiments expressed in it, similarly to those expressed in the inscription, link them with the period the Empress Eudocia lived in Jerusalem in the mid fifth century. It was at this time that she showed tolerance to the Jews, and even permitted them to visit Jerusalem.

It would seem that the writer worked under pressure, because he did not succeed in completing the biblical verse.



Dan Bahat. The Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem. The Israel Map and Publishing Company LTD, Israel, 1996. p. 75.

Robinson's Arch

The Ophel Archaelogical Garden is highlighted in red. (The label "Jewish Quarter" refers to the area west - this is part of a bigger map showing quarters of the city.)

I am still exploring in the Ophel Garden, and Robinson's Arch keeps coming up. I didn't think Robinson's Arch was part of the Ophel because it is found on the Western face of the wall, around the corner. This morning I found this map which resolves the conflict in my mind. It shows the Opel in red covering all of the Southern Wall, and some of the Western Wall.

From Wikipedia:

Robinson's Arch is the name given to an arch that once stood at the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount. It was built during the reconstruction of the Second Temple initiated by Herod the Great at the end of the 1st century BCE. The massive stone span was constructed along with the retaining walls of the Temple Mount. It carried traffic up from ancient Jerusalem's Lower Market area and over the Tyropoeon street to the Royal Stoa complex on the esplanade of the Mount. The overpass was destroyed during the Great Jewish Revolt, only a few decades after its completion.

The arch is named after Biblical scholar Edward Robinson who identified its remnants in 1838. Excavations during the second half of the 20th century revealed both its purpose and the extent of its associated structures. Today the considerable surviving portions of the ancient overpass complex may be viewed by the public within the Jerusalem Archaeological Park. As it is adjacent to Jerusalem's Western Wall worship area, a portion is used by some groups as a place of prayer.

I can't wait to see it!

Pottery Jar Inscription

As the layers of refuse and soil were removed from this area south of the temple courtyard, leftover items of daily life for ancient peoples were revealed.

Here I qute from Biblesearchers.com. on 7/12/2013

A Mysterious 3,000 year old Pre-Davidian Inscription discovered at the Ophel Archeological Gardens in an Unknown Language no Scholar can Read

Shoved, pushed and compressed under to support and stabilize the earth fill that was under the ancient second floor within a large building structure that was discovered dating to the 10th century B.C.E. when Israel’s most famous kings, King David and his son, King Solomon ruled in Jerusalem. There the Jewish archeological team discovered the oldest known written inscription ever discovered in Jerusalem along with pieces of six other large jar of the same type of construction.

There was one problem; all the archeologists are baffled at what is the meaning of the text. This 3,000 year old text of apparent Canaanite origins was discovered along the top of a large earthenware jug with the earliest alphabetical written text ever discovered in the city of Jerusalem.

Though clueless as to the interpretation of the text, the letters from the left to right spell out the letters M, Q, P, H, N, possibly L, and N. According to Mazar, there is no known word known in any western-Semitic language and so the meaning of the inscription still remains elusive. Yet, Mazar speculates that the inscription could have identified the content within the vessel or possible the name of the owner of the vessel.

Inscribed on the clay of a neck-less ceramic jar, the clay fragment was discovered near the Southern wall of the Temple Mount near what is called the Ophel where the priests lived during their rotations of duty within Solomon’s Temple.

King David, in spite of conquering the city, also according to the rabbinic history paid the Jebusites the full value of the city from money that was collected from all of the Israelite tribes, so the city of Jerusalem now became common property for all the twelve tribes of Israel. This piece of pottery was probably a part of somebody's kitchen from the early people, even before King David's time.

You can read more at this link.

Trouble at the Triple Gate

The Triple Gate shown here, in an 1855 photo show how the openings were blocked up centuries ago, and the ground around them filled in with refuse, then sod. What a sad state for what had been called "The Beautiful Gates."

I found this diagram showing how the Southern Wall, and the Triple Gate we are talking about relate with one another.

Well, I see you can't see the detail I was wanting to show you, so I will now enlarge the Southeast bottom corner.

Here is another view of the same.

So let's take a look at the other side of the Triple Gate, inside the wall. On my Nov. 26 post, Solomon's Stables, I posted the following picture.

This area is typically considered "underground," but in reality it was the area underneath the huge terrace that Herod built to enlarge the temple courtyard. Solomon's Stables was recently turned into a prayer hall for Muslims. The new el-Marwani Mosque provided the needed hall for worship during Ramadan, or their Holy Month of fasting and prayers.

Now, back to the "outside" side of the wall at the Triple Gate. In the early 21st century, a new bulge was noticed in the Southern Wall, threatening the structural integrity of the masonry. Creation of the el-Marwani Mosque was cited as the cause of the instability of the wall.

In a compromise between Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the Muslim Waqf that manages the property, it was decided that Jordan would manage the repairs. The Jordanian repair, visible as a bright, white patch in the photo above, has been criticized as "unsightly" because it is out of keeping with the common practices of historical restoration in being of a lighter color and smoother surface than the original stone.

I think the repair is another interesting part of the history of this most historical wall, taking place in our day.