The Wailing Wall (in modern tradition the Western Wall) is the remains of a colossal ancient foundation on the Temple Mount. Two thousand years ago, the biblical Jerusalem Temple stood here. Today it is a sacred place for Jews all over the world.
The Wall proper is a limestone fragment 57 metres long and 19 metres high. It is noticeable that the stones of the lower seven rows are larger - they were laid at the time of King Herod mentioned in the Bible.
However, under these rows archaeologists found much larger blocks. The most powerful of them, weighing up to 400 tonnes, belong to the era of King Solomon (X century BC). The Temple of Solomon, in whose Holy of Holies the Ark of the Covenant with the tablets of Moses was kept, was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. Seven decades later, the Jews rebuilt and consecrated the Second Temple. In 19 B.C. King Herod began its reconstruction. To expand the sanctuary, he built a strong retaining wall and filled the space inside it with soil.
In 70, the Romans destroyed the city and the temple, and in 135, after the defeat of the Bar Kokhba revolt, the Jews were forbidden even to visit Jerusalem. The Wall - all that remained of the legendary Temple - became a centre of spiritual attraction for Jews scattered around the world for many centuries. The Christian emperor Constantine I allowed them to enter the city once a year to mourn the loss of the Temple at the Wall. The Islamic warrior Saladin, who captured Jerusalem in 1193, settled Moroccans near the Wall - their houses appeared only 4 metres from the ancient stones. The right to worship the holy shrine was granted to the Jews in the second half of the XVI century by Suleiman the Magnificent. Since the XIX century they tried to buy the neighbourhood located at the Wall, but nothing came out of it. The site became a point of constant tension between Jews and Arabs.
After the formation of the state of Israel in 1948, the Old City came under Jordanian control. Theoretically, Jews had the right to visit the Wall; in practice, this was impossible. Pilgrims could only see the Wall from nearby Mount Zion. In 1967, during the Six Day War, Israeli paratroopers fought their way to the Wall through the narrow streets of the Old City. They wept and prayed for their fallen comrades, and Rabbi Goren sounded the ritual horn of the shofar for the first time in two thousand years. Forty-eight hours later, the Israeli army bulldozed the Arab neighbourhood, creating a square in front of the Wall that can accommodate more than 400,000 people.
This is where new recruits are sworn in, state ceremonies are held, families celebrate their children's coming of age. And, of course, thousands of worshippers flock here, in the heart of Jerusalem, every day. A huge, echoing Wall reigns over the square. People close their eyes and lean against the Wall, embrace it, kiss the stones. In the crevices they leave notes with prayer requests (more than a million every year). Faith and hope lead people to the sacred stones that the biblical prophet Jeremiah, who foretold the destruction of Solomon's Temple, has prophesied for centuries.
On a side note
- Location: Western Wall Plaza, Jerusalem
- Opening hours: daily, 24 hours a day. After religious holidays from 10.00 to 22.00.
- Tickets: adults - 25 shekels, children and concessions - 15 shekels.
