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 | |  |  | The Old City Gates: Golden Gate | Tip Rating:   |  |  | |  |
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 | Tip Rating: | | | | |
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: Gateway to the Old City | Tip Rating: | | | | |
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. Leave a Comment
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