The Wailing Wall, also called Western Wall, in Hebrew, HaKotel HaMa'aravi, or simply The Kotel, or in Yiddish pronunciation: Kosel, is a Jewish religious site located in the Old City of Jerusalem. The wall itself dates from the Second Temple period, (516 BCE - 70 CE). It is often called the Wailing Wall because of the Jews who come to the site to mourn the destruction of the Holy Temple.
The Western Wall is an 60 metre exposed section of ancient wall situated on the western flank of the Temple Mount. This section of the wall faces a large plaza and is set aside for prayer. In fact the Western Wall stretches for 489 metres, most of which is hidden behind residential structures built along its length. Other revealed sections include the southern part of the Wall which measures approximately 80 metres and another much shorter section known as the Little Western Wall which is located close to the Iron Gate. The wall functions as a retaining wall, built to support the extensive renovations that Herod the Great carried out around 19 CE. Herod expanded the small quasi-natural plateau on which the First and Second Temples stood into the wide expanse of the Temple Mount visible today.
The Western Wall's stone foundations descend many metres below street level. These great stones, including the first seven visible layers, are from the Herodian period. The next four layers were added by Umayads in the seventh century. The next fourteen layers are from the Ottoman period and their addition is attributed to Sir Moses Montefiore who in 1866 arranged that further layers be added "for shade and protection from the rain for all who come to pray by the holy remnant of our Temple". The top three layers were placed by the Mufti of Jerusalem before 1967.
Western wall of Jerusalem
Photo: Wayne McLean, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License
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