The wall surrounding the Temple Mount contains six sealed gates.
Golden Gate The
Golden Gate (; , "Gate of Mercy"), located on the eastern wall of the Temple Mount, was probably built in the 520s
CE, as part of
Justinian I's building program in
Jerusalem, on top of the ruins of an earlier gate in the wall. An alternate theory holds that it was built in the later part of the 7th century by
Byzantine artisans employed by the
Umayyad khalifs. It has two vaulted halls which lead to the Door of Mercy, Bab al-Rahma, and the Door of Repentance, Bab al-Taubah. Closed by the Muslims in 810, reopened in 1102 by the Crusaders, it was walled up by Saladin after regaining Jerusalem in 1187.
Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilt it together with the city walls, but walled it up in 1541, and it has stayed that way until today. The 1st-century historian,
Josephus, who mentions the "eastern gate" in his
Antiquities, makes note of the fact that this gate was considered within the far northeastern extremity of the inner sacred court. According to the
Mishnah, there was formerly a causeway which led out of the Temple Mount eastward over the
Kidron Valley, extending as far as the
Mount of Olives.
Rabbi Eliezer, dissenting, says that it was not a causeway, but rather marble pillars over which cedar boards had been laid, used by the High Priest and his entourage. This gate was not used by the masses to enter the Temple Mount, but reserved only for the High Priest and all those that aided him when taking out the Red Heifer or the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement. Dutch archaeologist
Leen Ritmeyer, who explored the gate in the 1970s, reached the conclusion that the two monolithic massive gateposts seen on the inside of the gate belong to an old structure of the gate, thought to be the
Shushan Gate (mentioned in
Mishnah Middot 1:3 as being the only gate in the Eastern Wall), and that it dates from the
First Temple period. During the
Ottoman-Turk era, the inner recess (vestibule) built within the western side of the Golden Gate was used for brick burning, which bricks were then used to renovate buildings and structures in the
Haram esh-Sharif (Temple Mount enclosure). A small mosque was built near the Golden Gate to cater to the brick burners, but which was later destroyed, along with part of the Gate's wall, by order of the Sultan in the 19th-century in order to make room for renovations. under the
Magharibah Gate (Moors' Gate) and is one of the four Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa original gates on its western side. Its Arabic name is , "Gate of the Prophet [Muhammad]"—not to be confused with the Triple Gate, which has the same Arabic name. It is named after
James Turner Barclay, a 19th-century
Christian missionary who discovered the main structure of the gate buried underground within the Al-Aqsa compound in 1852. Several researchers identified it as one of the
Second Temple period gates, possibly the Coponius Gate, which is mentioned in Jewish and Christian sources of the period. The gate was blocked with stones at the end of the 10th century and the internal gate room was transformed into a
mosque dedicated to Buraq. Today the room is closed and entrance to it is prohibited without the approval of the
Waqf. After the
Six-Day War, the Israel Religious Affairs Ministry and
Benjamin Mazar, who was at the time conducting the dig outside the
southern wall of the Temple Mount, planned to uncover this gate, but they were prevented from doing so by both Jewish and Muslim religious leaders.
Huldah Gates The
Huldah Gates comprise two sets of bricked-up gates in the southern wall of the Temple Mount. The fact that the original entrance gateways still exist reflects an ancient promise cited in a work of
rabbinic literature,
Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah: "The Kohen Gate and the Huldah Gate were never destroyed and God will renew them". The 1st-century historian,
Josephus, mentions these gates in his
Antiquities: "...the fourth front of the temple [mount], which was southward, had indeed itself gates in its middle."
The Double Gate/ The Prophets Gate/ Bab Al Nabi The Prophets Gate or the Double Gate is one of the permanently closed gates along the Southern wall of Al Aqsa Compound. The Gate was used by the Umayyad Caliphs when they would visit Al Aqsa Mosque from their palaces to the south of the compound. This gate is located around 100 metres from the South Western corner of the Compound. According to Khusru, Bab al Nabi was named as such because it was believed to be the place that the Prophet Muhammed entered Al Aqsa on the night of Isra and Miraj. Since the 19th Century according to Ratrout, the name “Double Gate” was given due to the two rectangular doorways which opened up into the long tunnel leading to the “Ancient Mosque” or “Al Aqsa Qadeem”. The Gateway enters into a long tunnel which measures more than 77 metres towards the north from the Southern wall. On the side of the doorways, above the arch there are floral engravings which according to Ben-Dov 1985, p138 is an “arch in the style of the Muslim Period” According to Ratrout, p. 256, Bab Al Nabi leads to a square domed vestibule which then leads to a flight of stairs leading to a double passage tunnel up to the level of the compound. The tunnel according to Ratrout during the early Islamic Period was much shorter but was extended to the north by the Abbasid Caliphs Al Mansur and Al Mahdi in 154-163 AH/ 771-780 AD [Hamilton, 1949, p63]
Triple Gate The set on the right is a triple-arched gate, known as the Triple Gate - not to be confused with
Barclay's Gate, which has the same Arabic name. Each of the gates once led into a passageway stretching underneath the esplanade of the Mount, and then to steps leading up to the esplanade itself.
Single Gate The
Single Gate is located along the
southern wall. It once led to the underground area of the Temple Mount known as
Solomon's Stables.
Gate of the Funerals, or of the Burāq (), or () (Gate of the Funerals/of the
Burāq) is a hardly noticeable
postern, or maybe an improvised gate, once opening into the eastern wall a short distance south of the
Golden Gate. ==See also==