Entrance to the Tunnels

The Western Wall Tunnel (Hebrew: מנהרת הכותל, translit.: Minheret Hakotel) is an underground tunnel exposing the Western Wall in its full length. The tunnel is adjacent to the Western Wall and is located under buildings of the Old City. Hebrew redirects here. ... Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word or text written in one writing system into another writing system. ... Western Wall by night Wailing Wall redirects here. ...

After the Six Day War, the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Israel began the excavations aimed at exposing the continuation of the wall. The excavations lasted almost twenty years and revealed many previously unknown facts about the history and geography of the Temple Mount. The 1967 Arab-Israeli War, also known as the Six-Day War or June War, was fought between Israel and its Arab neighbors Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. ... The Temple Mount (Hebrew: הַר הַבַּיִת, Har haBáyit). ...

The tunnel exposes a total length of 500m of the walls, revealing the methods of construction and the various activities in the vicinity of the Temple Mount. The excavations included many archaeological finds along the way, including discoveries from the Herodian period (streets, monumental masonry), sections of a reconstruction of the Western Wall dating to the Umayyad period and various structures dating to the Ayyubid, Mamluke and Hasmonean periods constructed to support buildings in the vicinity of the Temple Mount. For the grammarian, see Aelius Herodianus. ... The Courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, one of the grandest architectural legacies of the Umayyads. ... The Ayyubid Dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Egypt, Iraq in the 12th and 13th centuries. ... The Hasmonean Kingdom (pronunciation) in ancient Judea and its ruling dynasty from 140 BCE to 37 BCE was established under the leadership of Simon Maccabaeus, two decades after Judah the Maccabee defeated the Seleucid army in 165 BCE. // Recorded history The origin of the Hasmonean dynasty is recorded in the...

"Warren's Gate", lies about 150 feet into the tunnel. This sealed off entrance has been turned into a small synagogue called "The Cave" by Rabbi Yehuda Getz since it is the closest point a Jew can get to the Holy of Holies assuming it was located at the traditional site, under the Dome of the Rock. Temple Mount cistern No. ... The Tabernacle in the Wilderness The Most Holy Place also known as the Holiest of Holies is a location within the inner tabernacle of Moses. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

At the northern portion of the Western Wall remains of a water channel, which originally supplied water to the Temple Mount, were found. The exact source of the channel is unknown, though it passes through an underground pool known as the "Strouthion Pool". The water channel was dated to the Hasmonean period and was hence dubbed the "Hasmonean Channel". A water channel is an experimental tank for studying resistance and propulsion behaviour of ships, submarines, or other sea vessels. ... The Hasmonean Kingdom (pronunciation) in ancient Judea and its ruling dynasty from 140 BCE to 37 BCE was established under the leadership of Simon Maccabaeus, two decades after Judah the Maccabee defeated the Seleucid army in 165 BCE. // Recorded history The origin of the Hasmonean dynasty is recorded in the...

The biggest stone used to build the Western Wall is also revealed within the tunnel. The stone has a length of 13.6 meters, a width estimated between 3.5 to 4.5 meters; estimates place the weight at 570 tons.

Adjacent to the tunnel lies a museum called "The Chain of the Generations" which uses glass and holograms to depict the history of the Jewish people. Glass can be made transparent and flat, or into other shapes and colors as shown in this ball from the Verrerie of Brehat in Brittany. ... Holography (from the Greek, Όλος-holos whole + γραφή-graphe writing) is the science of producing holograms, an advanced form of photography that allows an image to be recorded in three dimensions. ...

The Northern Exit and Riots

Originally, tourists in the tunnel had to trace back their steps to the entrance. A connection to the Hasmonean water system was made, but this still required tourists to eventually u-turn once they had reached the Struthion pool. The original entrance from the ground to the Struthion pool remains in existence,^{[citation needed]} but the Convent of the Sisters of Zion, who owned the land, and who had rediscovered the pool and the Hasmonean system in the first place ^{[citation needed]} (during the convent's construction), did not wish to allow access through their convent; the convent refused access stating that they did not wish to be involved in any potential political fallout that might arise from a tunnel leading from the western wall into the Muslim Quarter ^{[citation needed]} . Western Wall by night Wailing Wall redirects here. ... The Muslim Quarter (or Moslem Quarter) is one of the four quarters of the ancient, walled Old City of Jerusalem, the other three being the Jewish Quarter, the Christian Quarter and the Armenian Quarter. ...

On the 24 September, 1996, the then Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, ordered that a new exit be cut through from the Struthion pool area to the Via Dolorosa nearby (next to the convent). Before this exit was opened, Yasser Arafat commented on the event, and subsequently riots erupted. Israel managed to stop the riots, but 70 Palestinians and 16 IDF soldiers were killed during the event. September 24 is the 267th day of the year (268th in leap years). ... Benjamin Netanyahu (also Binyamin, and in Israel commonly Bibi) (Hebrew: בנימין נתניהו) (born October 21, 1949, Tel Aviv) was the 9th Prime Minister of Israel. ... Via Dolorosa (Latin for Way of Grief) is a street in the Old City of Jerusalem. ... Yasser Arafat (Arabic: ياسر عرفات‎) August 24 or August 4, 1929 – November 11, 2004), born in Cairo or Jerusalem (sources vary, official death certificate says Jerusalem), Mohammed Abdel-Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini (محمد عبد الرؤوف القدوة الحسيني) and also known by the kunya Abu `Ammar (أبو عمّار), was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) (1969–2004...

See also

The Western Wall Western Wall by night Wailing Wall redirects here. ...

External links

• Minsitry of Religious Affairs. Hebrew descriptions + photos of sites within the tunnel
• Information from the Kotel site in English