Western Wall Tunnels, Jerusalem
“And as he (Jesus) came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” Mark 13:1
A tour of the Western Wall tunnels is a “must not miss” on visit to Jerusalem (as are about a million other things!). The visible wall in the prayer plaza extends underneath a portion of the muslim quarter and a great deal of this is excavated and able to be viewed.
Warren’s Gate was one of the 4 gates onto Temple Mount from the Western Wall in the second temple period. There was an area here that in the 7th - 11 or 12th century was the main synagogue in Jerusalem. Today there is a gorgeous modern synagogue near this spot, the Shaarei Tshuva Synagogue. The orb in the pictures is the Torah shrine that holds the holy books. The floor is made of onyx (a type of alabaster). The whole place glows in a soft golden yellow that is beautiful. Walking the tunnels with a guide it is possible to see structures such as cistern, arches, pools. The “western stone” - the largest of the Herodian stone work found at the Temple Mount to date - is visible. It measure 45 feet x 9.8 feet. Its width is estimated at between 11 - 15 feet and weight 300 - 500 tons.
We groan a bit when we look at our pictures from this trip, our first visit to Biblical lands… hopefully we’ve improved over the years and cut off less heads and parts of importance structures these days LOL!
Shaarei Tshuva Synagogue, near the Western Wall Tunnels
