Western Wall

The Western Wall stands in the Old City of Jerusalem, on the western side of the hill known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Al-Haram al-Sharif. The open plaza in front of it is used for prayer and public ceremonies.

The wall is part of the retaining wall built around 19 BC when Herod the Great enlarged the platform of the Second Temple. After the Romans destroyed the Temple in AD 70, the wall became a focus of Jewish prayer and mourning, which led to the name Wailing Wall in European languages. In Islamic tradition the wall is linked to the Al-Buraq, the steed of the Prophet Muhammad. The present plaza was cleared in 1967.

The exposed prayer section is about 57 metres long and rises around 19 metres above the plaza, with more courses hidden underground. The lowest visible layers are large Herodian ashlar blocks with smooth central faces and carved margins; higher layers were added in later periods. Separate prayer areas for men and women face the wall, and visitors often place written prayers in the cracks between the stones. The Western Wall Tunnels, reached by guided tour, follow the wall northwards underground and reveal stones weighing hundreds of tonnes. The area lies within the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Access to the plaza is free and open at all hours, with security checks at the entrances. Modest dress is expected, and men cover their heads at the prayer area. Photography is not appropriate on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays.

The prayer section has 45 courses of stone in total, 28 above the plaza and 17 below it. The bottom seven visible courses are Herodian, the next four were added under the Umayyads in the eighth century, and the top 16 or 17 date from the Mamluk period or later. Most blocks weigh between 1.8 and 7.3 tonnes, but one stone in the tunnels just north of Wilson's Arch is about 13.55 metres long and is estimated at 250 to 300 tonnes.

The dating has been refined by excavation. In 2011 archaeologists found Roman coins minted after Herod's death in a filled-in ritual bath beneath the wall's foundations, which shows that the work continued after his reign. The stone probably came from quarries such as Zedekiah's Cave in the Old City or from Ramat Shlomo, about 4 kilometres to the northwest.

Access to the wall has been fought over. Under British rule, the 1931 Western or Wailing Wall Order in Council banned the blowing of the shofar there, with fines of up to £50 or six months in prison, and young Jews repeatedly defied it after Yom Kippur in the 1930s. Before 1967 the Moroccan Quarter stood about 4 metres from the wall; in June 1967 its residents, about 650 people from 106 families, were ordered out and the houses were demolished to create the present plaza. Visitors should dress modestly, follow the separate men's and women's sections and expect bag checks at every entrance.