Even when a city is more than 3,000 years old, it is surprising to discover that it was destroyed two times, changed hands more than twenty times and attacked more than fifty times. Yet, there is a bright side to these historic tragedies. Jerusalem now holds, above and below the ground, lasting remains of the history of several civilisations and cultures.
The Western Wall Passage / Kotel
Jerusalem’s history lies in its stone. Some of it is carved into, and through, the mountain on which Jerusalem rests, while much is made from blocks of rocks such as in the creation of the Western Wall. One such block, is found under the ground, on the lower level of the Wall, placed there about the year 19 BCE. The Western Stone is a monolithic building block, considered one of the largest in the world. At more than 500 tonnes, with dimensions of 13.6 metres long, three metres high and more than three metres wide, it is overwhelming to imagine the effort that went into creating this one stone block. It is even the more awe-inspiring for the fact that it is smoothed, polished and adorned with bevelled edges.
Although all that remains of the original wall is its 488 metre long western face, Herod’s creation once surrounded the whole Temple Mount. All of the stones that Herod used to build this wall were, like the Western Stone, superbly finished, bevelled and carved out of large chunks of rock.
Standing in front of the exposed stone in the underground tunnel, which accounts for a little under half of the Wall’s 32 metre height, one cannot help but notice the difference in the size and shape of the rocks. When the Byzantines took control of the city in the 7th century, they raised the wall with several layers of small and misshapen stones, leaving noticeable gaps between blocks. Above those, placed during the 19th century, were fourteen layers of larger, but similar blocks from the Byzantine’s stones, of which I could see only six levels from my vantage point below the ground.
Further along the Western Wall Tunnels there are remnants of other civilizations, stone blocks half carved out of the rock, ancient gates that at one time led to the Temple Mount and a reservoir.
Hezekiah’s Tunnel / Siloam Aqueduct
According to the bible, in the 8th century BCE, one of King David’s successors, Hezekiah faced a dilemma when the Assyrian king laid siege to Jerusalem. He needed to supply water to his besieged city, yet deny it to the enemy. His solution was to carve a channel through mountain to divert the waters of the Gihon. This, he needed to do quickly, so he had crews start from both ends simultaneously. Despite the lack of modern tools and mapping techniques, the diggers connected in the middle, the result being a 533 metre long tunnel running under the city. Some of it is still under excavation, but much of it is open to walk through at your leisure. Although, the tunnel is quite wide, it becomes very narrow in some spots, forcing most people to turn sideways to continue.
Jerusalem holds a wealth of history, above and below the city. To get the most of my visit, I hired a knowledgeable, English speaking tour guide, without whom I would have only seen Jerusalem, not experienced it. Although I only had time to walk through the Western Wall and Hezekiah Passages, there are other tunnels waiting to be explored. Excavations continue on a daily basis, uncovering previously unknown ancient routes beneath the ground, which create a historical timeline of a much prized city.
Dani Stern - I have been working in media relations for more than ten years, with a specialty in covering consumer events and trade shows. My focus has ...
Join the Conversation