THE OLD CITY OF JERUSALEM, at one time, had eleven gates that pierced it's walls.  Today it only has eight gates, but only seven of them are functional.  This is an introductory tour to those gates.

Jerusalem literally translates as City of Peace, and it has been anything but peaceful throughout it's long existence.  The large defensive walls built around it have protected the city for hundreds and thousands of years, but even they have been breached many times by many different cultures of the years.  Jerusalem, and Israel have found themselves, unfortunately, at the crossroads where conquering armies travel. The map I've drawn (shown to the left) is a rough illustration of the city, showing the position of each of it's current gates. The city is approximately 1 square kilometer. (Much smaller than one would think given it's significance and how hard it's being fought over, no?)

Jerusalem's defensive wall was built by during the lifetime of Suleiman the magnificent (1520-1566), the Sultan of the Ottoman empire, and was built around 1530-1542.

Let's begin at the top left (of our map) with the NEW GATE. This is one of Jerusalem's newest gates, built around 1898 to allow direct access to the Christian Quarter, for the sole purpose of the visit of German Emperor William the second.  During Israel's war of independence in 1948, Jordan captured the old city (also known as East Jerusalem) and closed off the gate.  A "no-mans-land" was created on the Israeli-Jordanian border which was right along the gate, and the gate wasn't reopened until East Jerusalem was recaptured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day-War.

Going clockwise around the city, we arrive at DAMASCUS GATE.  Damascus gate is one of the most elaborate and ornate gates allowing passage through the wall.  It's also my personal favorite. When I lived in Israel for a couple of years, during my late teens, it was my gate of choice to enter the city, both because of it's convenient location, and it's inherent beauty. Damascus gate was built in approximately 1537, and archaeologists have found that it stands over two prior gates, dating back to 135 BC.  One of those gates was a roman gate with a single Column that stood in front of the gate, giving it the name, by which, Jerusalem Arabs still address it: The Column Gate... even though there is no sign of the Column that once stood there.

As you enter the gate, if you look upward, you'd see holes above, that were designed for defenders to drop large rocks, or boiling oil on attacking forces.

HEROD'S GATE comes next. As you'd guess, by it's name, Herod's gate faces the direction that Herod Antipas' home once stood, where Jesus was sent to stand before Pontius Pilate. The original gate that stood here, was known as Bab-a-Sahariad, which was a reference to a Muslim burial ground near the gate. "A-Sahairad" means "those who don't sleep" (alluding to the dead), but the name mutated into "A-Zahar" which means Flower-gate, and the gate also became known as the Flower gate.

As we round the corner to the East side of the city wall, we come to LION'S GATE. Lion's Gate (built in 1538-39) is one of the oldest existing gates, one of the original gates of the city, and known by the most names. It's been called, the gate of Tribes, Mary's Gate, and St. Stephen's Gate among others.  It's currently known as Lion's gate primarily due to the ornate lions carved over it's entrance.  This is the only existing passage through the East Wall of the city, and is the gate that was used by the Israeli army to enter the city during the 1967 war.

And now we come to the most interesting, and most storied gate of all... the GOLDEN GATE. This gate is the direct entrance to the Temple Mount. The location of the First and Second Temples of Israel (both destroyed). The current location of the Dome of the Rock (the beautiful Gold topped Mosque that is the most identifiable symbol of the city of Jerusalem). You can see from the photo that this single gate, contained two entrances (now sealed with stone).  One is called the "Gate of Repentance" and one is called the "Gate of Mercy".  According to Christian tradition, this is the gate, by which, Jesus entered the city, and is therefore called the Golden Gate.  By Jewish tradition, this is fabled to be the gate, by which, the Messiah will enter the city.  After the crusades, the city fell back into Muslim hands, and in order to prevent the entry of the Christian or Jewish messiah, they "sealed" the gate, and just in case that wasn't enough to keep the messiah out, they also installed a Muslim cemetery in front of the gate, as it was told that the High Priests (which, of course the Messiah would be), are forbidden passage through a cemetery.  Fascinating, stuff... no?

Okay, this now brings us to the most unpleasantly named passageway, the DUNG GATE. It's name gives you a strong idea of what this non-descript gate's purpose was. It was once the Siloam Gate, referencing the Siloam pool fed by the Gihon fresh water springs, where Jerusalem obtained much of it's water.  That pool was eventually enclosed, to make it accessible only by tunnel from inside the walls... but that's a different story entirely.  In the 1800's, it was renamed as the gate, through which most of the city's refuse passed.  It's also the smallest and lowest gate through the walls.  This is the closest gate to the Wailing Wall, and the Temple mount.  It has been rebuilt and enlarged since the photo shown above, but is not substantially more impressive today (although you can now drive through).

ZION GATE. One of the original gates in the wall, built in 1540, but was never an important gate in the wall. It was used primarily as an exit from the city, and rarely as an entrance.  I guess, effectively the city's "back door".  As you can see from the photo, it's taken quite a beating... it was the site of many bloody battles during the 1948 war for independence, and during the siege of Jerusalem in 1949, the Palmach (and independent guerrilla style Jewish group) attacked the gate with gunfire and explosives causing massive damage in an effort to reach the besieged Jewish Quarter.  Much of the damage has been repaired, but the pockmarked surface was left to show the scars and the "history".

Which brings us to the last, but certainly not least, gate in modern-day Jerusalem... JAFFA GATE.  This gate, not surprisingly, faces west toward the ancient sea port of Jaffa.  This is the gate, by which, it was rumored, all conquerors of Jerusalem have entered the city. Making it an important, if not impressive passageway into the city.

And there you have it.  I had many more impressive photos to show... but had some difficulty with copyrights.  I have many more stories to tell about the fabled "City of David" or "City of Peace", but this post is already waaaaaaay too long.  I guess I'm kinda stuck on this historical jag of mine.  Hopefully I'll get back to Real Estate soon.  I hope you've enjoyed my little TraveBlog.  Personally, I think that Jerusalem is one of the coolest cities on the planet.  Paris and Rome don't hold a candle to this city... but then I'm a bit prejudiced. :-)

Thanks for listening, I hope I didn't bore you to tears.