Chain Gate (Jerusalem)

The Ohel Yitzchak Synagogue also known as the Shomrei ha-Chomos Synagogue and the Ungarin Shul (Hungarian synagogue) is located in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It was built as a yeshiva in the 1870s by Kolel Shomrei HaChomos, an organization of Hungarian Jews, but was abandoned after the riots of 1938. Although the building was destroyed after 1948, it has recently been acquired by a Religious Zionist group for refurbishment and was reopened after restoration work finished in October 2008.

The Madrasa al-Ashrafiyya (Arabic: مدرسة الأشرفية, romanized: Madrasa al-’Ashrafiyya) is an Islamic madrasa structure built in 1480–1482 by the Mamluk sultan al-Ashraf Qaytbay (after whom it is named) on the western side of the Haram al-Sharif (Temple Mount) in Jerusalem. Although only a part of the original structure is still standing today, it is a notable example of royal Mamluk architecture in Jerusalem.

The ʿUthmāniyya Madrasa (Arabic: المدرسة العثمانية al-Madrasa al-ʿUthmāniyya) is a historic school in Jerusalem. It is by the western esplanade of the al-Aqsa Compound. It was established in 1436, then became an Ottoman imperial provincial madrasa.It is among the few Jerusalem madrasas with a woman endower, the others were the Khātūniyya Madrasa and the little-known Barudiyya.

Fountain of Qayt Bay (Arabic: نافورة قايتباي) or Sabil Qaitbay (Arabic: سبيل قايتباي) is a domed public fountain (sabil) on the western esplanade of the al-Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem, near the Madrasa al-Ashrafiyya. Built in the 15th century by the Mamluks of Egypt, it was completed in the reign of Sultan Qaytbay, after whom it is named. It is also colloquially known as the Fountain of Hamidiye due to Sultan Abdul Hamid II’s restoration. It has been considered, "after the Dome of the Rock, the most beautiful edifice in the Haram".

The Western Wall Tunnel (Hebrew: מנהרת הכותל, translit.: Minharat Hakotel) is a tunnel exposing the Western Wall slightly north from where the traditional, open-air prayer site ends and up to the Wall's northern end. Most of the tunnel is in continuation of the open-air Western Wall and is located under buildings of the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. While the open-air portion of the Western Wall is approximately 60 metres (200 ft) long, the majority of its original length of 488 metres (1,601 ft) is hidden underground. The tunnel allows access to the remainder of the Wall in a northerly direction. The tunnel is connected to several adjacent excavated underground spaces, many of which can be visited together with the main tunnel. For this reason the plural form, Western Wall Tunnels, is often being used.

Tyropoeon Valley (Greek: φάραγξ τῶν τυροποιῶν pharanx tōn tyropoiōn i.e., "Valley of the Cheesemakers") is the name given by Josephus the historian (Wars 5.140) to the valley or rugged ravine, in the Old City of Jerusalem, which in ancient times separated Mount Moriah from Mount Zion and emptied into the valley of Hinnom. The Tyropoeon, filled over the centuries with a vast accumulation of debris, and almost a plain, was spanned by bridges, the most noted of which was Zion Bridge, which was probably the ordinary means of communication between the royal palace on Zion and the temple. The western wall of the Temple Mount rose up from the bottom of this valley to the height of 84 feet, where it was on a level with the area, and above this, and as a continuance of it, the wall of Solomon's cloister rose to the height of about 50 feet, "so that this section of the wall would originally present to view a stupendous mass of masonry scarcely to be surpassed by any mural masonry in the world." In the Copper Scroll this valley is called in Hebrew the Outer Valley (3Q15 col.8, line 4). The name των τυροποιων (tōn tyropoiōn) possibly arose as an ancient mistranslation from Hebrew to the Greek of Josephus's book; Semitic languages use the same root for outer and congeal.

The an-Nāranj Pool (Arabic: بركة النارنج Birkat an-Nāranj, lit. 'pond of the bitter orange') is a small pool in the al-Aqsa Mosque Compound. It is at the compound's western esplanade, between the Fountain of Qasim Pasha (Sabil an-Nāranj) and the Fountain of Qayt Bay (to its south). It was also known as al-Rāranj (الرارنج) and al-Ghāghanj (الغاغنج); both are phonetic variations of an-Nāranj.It was built in the Ottoman period. It was restored during the reign of Sultan Qaitbay and again in 1527 by Qasim Pasha, a governor of Jerusalem. In 1922, the Supreme Muslim Council reconstructed the pool, paved it with marble and encircled it with banisters. The pool is seven metres wide.

The Fountain of Qasim Pasha (Arabic: سبيل قاسم باشا, Turkish: Kasım Paşa Çeşmesi) is an ablution and drinking fountain (sebil or sabil) in the western esplanade of the al-Aqsa Compound in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is in front of the Chain Gate.It was also known as the Sabil an-Nāranj ("Sebil of the Bitter Orange") and Sabīl Bāb al-Maḥkama ("Sebil of the Court House Gate", from another name of the Chain Gate, referring to a former court in the Tankiziyya).

Warren's Gate (Hebrew: שער וורן, romanized: Sha'ar Varen), first described by nineteenth century surveyor Charles Warren, is an ancient entrance into the Temple platform in Jerusalem which lies about 150 feet (46 m) into the Western Wall Tunnel. In the Second Temple period, the gate led to a tunnel and staircase onto the Temple Mount. After the Rashidun Caliphate conquest of Jerusalem from the Byzantines, Jews were allowed to pray inside the tunnel. The synagogue was destroyed in the First Crusade in the siege of Jerusalem in 1099. The tunnel then became a water cistern, thus its name Cistern 30.The area is surrounded by a vaulted 18-foot (5.5 m) tunnel. Rabbi Yehuda Getz, the late official Rabbi of the Western Wall, believed that the Gate represented the point west of the Wall closest to the Holy of Holies. An underground dispute broke out in July 1981 between Jewish explorers inside Warren's Gate and Arab guards who came down to meet them through surface cistern entries. A small underground riot ensued which was only stopped when the Jerusalem police came in to restore the peace.

The 1947 Jerusalem Riots occurred following the vote in the UN General Assembly in favour of the 1947 UN Partition Plan on 29 November 1947. The Arab Higher Committee declared a three-day strike and public protest to begin on 2 December 1947, in protest at the vote. Arabs marching to Zion Square on December 2 were stopped by the British, and the Arabs instead turned towards the commercial center of the City at Mamilla and Jaffa Road, burning many buildings and shops. Violence continued for two more days, with a number of Jewish neighborhoods being attacked. The New York Times, December 3, 1947, has a three column headline on the front page: "JERUSALEM TORN BY RIOTING; ARABS USE KNIVES, SET FIRES; JEWS REPLY, HAGANAH IN OPEN" with subheads that include: "14 Are Slain In Day" "8 Jews Reported Killed in Palestine Clashes--Mob Loots Shops" etc.A consequence of the violence was the decision by the Haganah Jewish paramilitary organization to use force to "stop future attacks on Jews". The Irgun had conducted armed attacks aimed against population of nearby Arab villages and a bombing campaign against Arab civilians. On December 12, Irgun militants placed a bomb at the Damascus Gate that killed 20 people.

The Western Wall (Hebrew: הַכּוֹתֶל הַמַּעֲרָבִי, romanized: HaKotel HaMa'aravi, lit. 'the western wall', often shortened to the Kotel or Kosel), known in the West as the Wailing Wall, and in Islam as the Buraq Wall (Arabic: حَائِط ٱلْبُرَاق, Ḥā'iṭ al-Burāq Arabic pronunciation: ['ħaːʔɪtˤ albʊ'raːq]), is a portion of ancient limestone wall in the Old City of Jerusalem that forms part of the larger retaining wall of the hill known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount. Just over half the wall's total height, including its 17 courses located below street level, dates from the end of the Second Temple period, and is believed to have been begun by Herod the Great. The very large stone blocks of the lower courses are Herodian, the courses of medium-sized stones above them were added during the Umayyad period, while the small stones of the uppermost courses are of more recent date, especially from the Ottoman period. The Western Wall plays an important role in Judaism due to its proximity to the Temple Mount. Because of the Temple Mount entry restrictions, the Wall is the holiest place where Jews are permitted to pray outside the previous Temple Mount platform, as the presumed site of the Holy of Holies, the most sacred site in the Jewish faith, lies just behind it. The original, natural, and irregular-shaped Temple Mount was gradually extended to allow for an ever-larger Temple compound to be built at its top. The earliest source mentioning this specific site as a place of Jewish worship is from the 17th century. It also has a place in Muslim tradition, in which it is believed to be the site where the Islamic Prophet Muhammad tied his winged steed, al-Buraq, on his Isra and Mi'raj to Jerusalem before ascending to paradise, and constitutes the western border of al-Haram al-Sharif ("the Noble Sanctuary"), or the Al-Aqsa compound. The term Western Wall and its variations are mostly used in a narrow sense for the section of the wall used for Jewish prayer and called the "Wailing Wall", referring to the practice of Jews weeping at the site. During the period of Christian Roman rule over Jerusalem (ca. 324–638), Jews were completely barred from Jerusalem except on Tisha B'Av, the day of national mourning for the Temples. The term "Wailing Wall" has historically been used mainly by Christians, with religious Jews generally considering it derogatory. In a broader sense, "Western Wall" can refer to the entire 488-metre-long (1,601 ft) retaining wall on the western side of the Temple Mount. The classic portion now faces a large plaza in the Jewish Quarter, near the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount, while the rest of the wall is concealed behind structures in the Muslim Quarter, with the small exception of an 8-metre (26 ft) section, the so-called "Little Western Wall" or " Small Wailing Wall". This segment of the western retaining wall derives particular importance from never been fully obscured by medieval buildings, and displaying much of the original Herodian stonework. In religious terms, the "Little Western Wall" is presumed to be even closer to the Holy of Holies and thus to the "presence of God" (Shechina), and the underground Warren's Gate, which has been out of reach for Jews from the 12th century till its partial excavation in the 20th century. While the wall was considered an integral part of the Haram esh-Sharif and waqf property of the Moroccan Quarter under Muslim rule, a right of Jewish prayer and pilgrimage has long existed as part of the Status Quo. This position was confirmed in a 1930 international commission during the British Mandate period. With the rise of the Zionist movement in the early 20th century, the wall became a source of friction between the Jewish and Muslim communities, the latter being worried that the wall could be used to further Jewish claims to the Temple Mount and thus Jerusalem. During this period outbreaks of violence at the foot of the wall became commonplace, with a particularly deadly riot in 1929 in which 133 Jews and 116 Arabs were killed, with many more people injured. After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War the eastern portion of Jerusalem was occupied by Jordan. Under Jordanian control Jews were completely expelled from the Old City including the Jewish Quarter, and Jews were barred from entering the Old City for 19 years, effectively banning Jewish prayer at the site of the Western Wall. This period ended on June 10, 1967, when Israel gained control of the site following the Six-Day War. Three days after establishing control over the Western Wall site, the Moroccan Quarter was bulldozed by Israeli authorities to create space for what is now the Western Wall plaza.

Wilson's Arch (Hebrew: קשת וילסון, romanized: Keshet Vilson) is the modern name for an ancient stone arch in Jerusalem, the first in a row of arches that supported a large bridge connecting the Herodian Temple Mount with the Upper City on the opposite Western Hill. The Arch springs from the Western Wall and is still visible underneath later buildings set against the Wall. The name Wilson's Arch is also used to denote the hall that it partially covers, which is currently used as a synagogue. This hall opens towards the Western Wall Plaza at the Plaza's northeast corner, so that it appears on the left of the prayer section of the Western Wall to visitors facing the Wall. The Arch once spanned 13 metres (42 ft), supporting a bridge that carried both a street and an aqueduct. Excavations between 2015 and 2019 collected organic material in the mortar used during various stages of construction. Radiocarbon dating indicated that the initial bridge to the Temple Mount was completed between 20 BCE and 20 CE, and a doubling in width occurred between 30 CE and 60 CE. The ground level during the Second Temple period was lower by some 3 m (9.8 ft) than its height during the period of the Early Arab conquest. In the 1980s it was thought that the original stones of the arch lie within the fillings at a depth of about 8 meters below the contemporary paved level, but this was proven to be wrong. This arch once supported a bridge over a stone-paved street that passed beneath it, similar to Robinson's Arch. The late Second Temple period bridge served as both an aqueduct and viaduct, in its latter function allowing people to access a gate that was level with the surface of the Temple Mount.