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The Old City Gates, Jerusalem

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The Old City Gates, Jerusalem
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Jaffa Gate - Jerusalem
Jaffa Gate
by antistar
Things to Do in Jerusalem: The Old City Gates tips and photos posted by real travelers and Jerusalem locals.
The Old City Gates
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The Old City Gates: Graves of two architects of the wall
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  • Graves of 2 architects of the wall - Jerusalem
    Graves of 2 architects of the
    wall
    by FruitLover
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    A legend says these two graves, in the inner court-yard of Jaffa Gate, belong to the two architects hanged by the Ottoman Sultan, Soleiman the Magnificent in 16th century. The Sultan felt cheated by them because they didn't include Mount Zion inside the Wall area. Another common explanation to their death is the will of the Sultan that the beautiful Wall designed and built by these architects will not be copied, and consequently they took their professional secrets to their graves forever.


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    The Old City Gates: Golden Gate
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  • The Golden Gate is the most impressive gate in Jerusalem, and the only visible entrance to the city of Jerusalem from the East. This oldest of all the gates to the city was the only one not rebuilt by Suleiman the Magnificent in AD 1539-42. Monolithic stones in the wall just above ground have been identified as 6th Century BC masonry from the time of Nehemiah. The Golden Gate was walled up by the Arabs in the year 810. It has remained closed now for nearly 12 centuries. The Golden Gate has long interested many Muslims, most Jews and Christians as the place of the Last Judgment. Historically, judgments were rendered in the gates of the city (Gen. 19:1, 23:10, for instance). Since the Messiah was to come from the East (Matthew 24:27), it was concluded that his judgment would be at the eastern gate. This is one reason for the many Muslim, Christian, and Jewish graves on the Eastern slopes of the Temple Mount, in the Kidron Valley, and on the Western slopes of the Mount of Olives Some Muslims place Allah's final judgment at this location also. Jews link the Messiah's arrival with this gate and Christians have for centuries associated the Golden Gate with Palm Sunday and also with the Second Advent (Luke 19:35-38). Muslims compare the final judgment of mankind to the crossing of a narrow knife blade which stretches from a mountain (the Mount of Olives is often mentioned in Arab legend) to the "gate of heaven." This knife-edged bridge evidently spans the Kidron Valley - as did an ancient stone bridge in Roman times.


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    The Old City Gates: Jaffa Gate
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  • Jaffa Gate is the most western of the gates in the walls of Jerusalem. It was named so as the starting point of the road to Jaffa port. Its Arabic name, Bab al-Khalil, meaning 'Hebron Gate' indicates that the road to Hebron, the ancient city of the Patriarchs, also started there. An Arabic inscription in the gate structure commemorates its construction: "In the name of Allah, the merciful and the compassionate, our lord the great sultan, monarch of the Byzantines, Arabs and Persians, Suleyman son of Selim Khan, may Allah perpetuate his kingdom, commanded that this blessed constructed, in the year 945 (in the Moslim - Heijra calendar - that is in 1538 in the Gregorian calendar).


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    The Old City Gates: The Gates of the Old walled City
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  • Gates of walled Jerusalem - Jerusalem
    Gates of walled Jerusalem
    by FruitLover
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    Today a visitor can enter the Old City of Jerusalem by one of seven gates. Some gates were named by location. The Jaffa Gate faces West towards Tel Aviv and Jaffa. The Damascus Gate is in the North wall where a traveler would enter if he had come from Galilee, the Golan Heights and Damascus. The Zion Gate is, logically, on Mt. Zion near the traditional Tomb of David and site of the Upper Room of the Last Supper. The Dung Gate faces South towards the Hinnom Valley where refuse from the city was dumped in former times into the Hinnom Valley. The Sheep Gate (or, St. Stephen's Gate, or Lion's Gate) is next to the sheep market, and so on. The present walls around the Old City were built from 1537 to 1541 by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent after the Ottoman conquest of Israel. At that time most of the ancient walls were reduced to rubble. Suleiman ordered that Jerusalem be fortified to protect its people against marauding Bedouins.


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    The Old City Gates: Gateway to the Old City
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  • The Damascus Gate, one of the eight gates in the wall that surrounds the Old City of Jerusalem, is called Bab al-Amud - Gate of the Pillar - in Arabic, and Sha'ar Shechem - Nablus Gate - in Hebrew. The wall was built in the 16th century by the Ottoman ruler, Suleiman the Magnificant. Originally, there were seven gates. The "New Gate" was added in the 19th century. The Damascus Gate is the largest and most imposing of these gates. Today, you can still see the slits for firing at attackers, the thick doors and an opening for pouring boiling oil on the enemy below. The plaza and steps leading down to the gate are always teeming with people - although less so today, because of the sharp drop in tourism. It is the main link to Arab East Jerusalem outside the walls. Recommended: Buy one of the fresh bread rings sold from carts outside the gate. The vendor will give you a little mound of za'atar - a greenish dried spice mixture of ground hyssop, salt and sesame seeds - wrapped in a little piece of newspaper. Pull off chunks of bread and dunk it into this spice. At home, you can mix this spice with olive oil and use it as a spread. You can also sprinkle it on an omelet or use it as a garnish for cream cheese.

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    The Old City Gates: Damascus Gate
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  • The busiest of all the gates, which has become something of an impromptu market directly outside. Its huge and built in the 13th century in its present form and formed the main entrance to the city of Jerusalem. You can visit the excavations of the older Roman original as well as clamber up to the top of the structure. It is now fairly heavily patrolled by the IDF. The soldiers try to be discrete about their whereabouts - not an easy job...

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    The Old City Gates: Jaffa Gate
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  • The Jaffa Gate is one of seven ancient gates surrounding the Old City, and was the most recently restored. It's one of the main entrances between the New and Old City, marking the way into the Christian Quarter. You can take guided tours of the city walls from here.

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    The Old City Gates: Damascus Gate
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  • This gate is the starting point for walks in the old city. Every morning in front of it you will find small traders selling vegetables and fruit. The Gate itself is quite impressive. It is built over the remains of the Roman Gate. As you cross the Gate you will see the excavation area with parts of the original Roman one.

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    The Old City Gates: The Old City
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  • The best way to approach the old city is to walk from the New City along Jaffa Road. One moment you are amongst modern buildings, bars and shops. Suddenly the corner of a huge graystone wall is looming in front of you and there it is; the old city. From this point you have a choice; Carry on walking down Jaffa Road directly ahead of you, or turn left past New Gate to the larger Damascus Gate. The first option takes you into a small square which also doubles as a taxi rank. Directly ahead is the narrow market cobbled street that leads through the heart of the city. Damascus Gate is the main entrance to the Arab Quarter of Jerusalem. Walk down the wide steps, through the busy gateway to find yourself at the opposite end of the market street and the area where some of the cheapest hostels are to be found. The best way to explore the Old City is simply to lose yourself in its deceptive streets. I loved to wander here, sometimes I was lost, other times I just tried to be. As long as you dress conservatively there is no reason to be worried.

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    The Old City Gates: The Golden Gate
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  • The Golden Gate has been bricked up for more than a millennium, because Muslim tradition holds that one day a conqueror will enter through this gate to destroy the city and that this is the gate that opens for the Messiah on the day of Resurrection. To take pictures of the gate you must be outside the wall of the old city.

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