Tombs of the Sanhedrin

In 1235, Rabbi Jacob the Emissary called them the "Tombs of the Righteous", writing that the tombs housed the remains of "many wise men". They were first called the Tombs of the Sanhedrin by Rabbi Joseph Halevi in 1450, However, many archaeologists refute any connection to the Sanhedrin. ==History==

The Tombs of the Sanhedrin have been a site for Jewish pilgrimage and prayer since the thirteenth century. In the mid-1800s, the tombs were demarcated by a huge boulder that guided pilgrims to the site. The Tombs of the Sanhedrin are located at the head of the Valley of Jehoshaphat in northwest Jerusalem. They are part of a giant necropolis situated to the north and east of the Old City of Jerusalem and dating to the Second Temple period. Archaeologists have surveyed close to 1,000 burial caves within of the Old City, dating to this period. Rock-cut tombs like those of the Tombs of the Sanhedrin were typically commissioned by wealthy Jewish families of the era, with monumental facades carved with floral and geometric motifs. The Sanhedria necropolis covers an area of approximately . In his 1847 book, The Lands of the Bible Visited and Described, English archaeologist John Wilson describes his exploration of the Tombs of the Sanhedrin: "From the Tomb of Simeon the Just, I proceeded further on, to the Tombs of the Sanhedrin. These, like the former, are under ground, hewn in the solid rock. The entrance here is still lower, and I was obliged, in some parts, to lay flat down and slide in; but when once inside, I found large vaulted chambers. I counted sixty-three niches where sarcophagi had formerly been placed. In each of these three tombs there were numberless names written on the walls by devout Jews who had visited them". ==Courtyard and facade==

An ancient quarry was reshaped into a forecourt, with the burial caves hewn out of the living rock on one side. The forecourt has rock-hewn benches for the benefit of visitors. pediment above the large, square entrance is decorated with plant motifs, including acanthus leaves entwined with pomegranates and figs, representative of Judeo-Hellenistic burial art of the 1st century. After a step, a rock-hewn room open towards the forecourt and walled on the other three sides allows entrance to the central burial chamber. The entrance was originally closed by a stone door and is topped by a small pediment. The facade of the tomb appeared differently in medieval times. One report describes a "beautiful structure" containing "caves within caves". A 1659 drawing shows an entrance with a grand, arched colonnade. ==Burial cave==

Inside are four burial chambers on two levels. Opinions differ as to how the bodies were placed in the niches. According to Har-El, Jews placed their deceased either in stone sarcophagi in the niches; or laid them on the floor until the soft tissue decayed, and the collected their bones into ossuaries, which they placed in vaults. ==Public access==

Park Through the 20th century, the tombs were open to the public. In the 1930s, a young Shlomo Moussaieff claimed he found ancient coins in the caves and sold them to support himself after his father threw him out of the house. Following the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948, the Old City of Jerusalem was captured by the Arab Legion; it was later recaptured by the Israelis in the Six-Day War of 1967. Throughout the intervening 19-year period, many ancient graves, placed in Jordanian-held East Jerusalem, were off-limits to Jewish visitors. As a result, the Tombs of the Sanhedrin, by virtue of being on the Israeli side, became an often-visited site. In the 2000s, access to the Tombs was restricted due to vandalism and a gate was placed across the entrance. The tombs have been defaced by graffiti and the forecourt is often clogged with garbage and filth. ==Commemoration==

In the 1950s, the State of Israel issued a 500 prutah banknote that depicted the facade of the tombs. ==See also==