The Wailing Wall (Western Wall), Jerusalem

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The wailing wall or western wall for jewish is a wall 488 meters high and it is what remains of the second temple of Jerusalem.
This is the most important religious site for jewish and it attracts thousends of people from all over the world that comes here to pray next to the wall and to put peces of paper with prayer or good will messages into the wall craves.
It has beel built by king Herod more than 200 years ago and since 1967 it is under Israeli control.Before accessing the wall you have to go through metal detector and your bag into x ray control.

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In the shadows of the western wall, and stretching outside the current walls of the Old City is the Jerusalem Archaelogical Park. Formerly just the Ophel Archaelogical Park, new diggings round the south-western corner of the Western Wall and the building of a state of the art virtual exhibition centre (Davidson Centre) has led to this massive expansion and is incorporated into the Jerusalem Archaelogical Park, developed round the oldest settlement of Jerusalem.

The entrance to the Park is just inside Dung Gate and the access road to the Western Wall. Start at the Davidson Centre, which includes models of Jerusalem as well as introductory films about ancient Jerusalem. Once outside, the walls of the 2nd Temple (and which are now the walls of the Mosque) tower above you. Here you will find the original foundations of shops, buildings etc that lined Herodian Street - the main throughfare of Jerusalem at the time of the 2nd Temple. Some 20 metres above you is what was once the main entrance into the Temple complex (access now destroyed - when the Romans destroyed the 2nd Temple, they dislodged the stones that formed the access ramp, hurling the huge stones to the streets below. Many of these rocks remain in situ today).

'Round the corner' is the Umayyad Palace foundations from the 6th & 7th century - now an immense courtyard of foundations and columns with access to the city ramparts. Through a small gate is access to the Ophel Archaelogical Park, which is officially outside the walls of the Old City. Abutting the southern wall of the 2nd Temple, the Hula Gates are to be found (or the remains - they are now bricked in), which were the 2nd and 3rd entrances to the Temple.

It's a huge complex - and although there is little more than foundations and exterior walls to be found, its a fascinating new addition to what's on offer in Jerusalem.

Entrance fee: NIS 30, Open Sunday-Thursday, 9am - 5pm, Friday 9am - 3pm

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Over two thousand years ago the Second Temple was standing in Jerusalem, on Mt. Moriah. In the first century AD it was completely rebuilt by King Herod, a magnificent structure. In the year 70 AD the Temple was destroyed by the Romans, who had just crushed the Jewish Rebellion. All that remained after the destruction of the Temple was part of the western part of the wall surrounding the Temple grounds.

For two thousand years, when Jews were scattered all over the world (after being exiled from their homeland by the Romans), they used to direct their prayers to this remaining outer wall of the Temple, the Western Wall, which then became the Wailing Wall, the wall where Jews were mourning their loss and praying for a better future.

To this very day this is the focal point for every Jew wherever he may be. Jews from every corner of the world come here, pray, write down their wishes on small paper notes and put them between the mighty stones of the Wall. And mighty they are, testimony to the terrific builder that King Herod was.

This is a very special place.

To get to it you have to go through body scanners and have any bags xrayed.

I was there on a saturday so no photo's were allowed unfortunatly

A place where everyone should go and experience

I did manage to get one photo at very long range

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Our visit to the "Wailing Wall" was towards late afternoon and it was still crowded. Visitors can walk up to the Wailing Wall, but custom says you must have your head covered. Disposable hats are available.

Some members of our group went down to the wall, however we observed respect and looked on from a distance.

Many people put small pieces of paper, containg their special prayer, into cracks in the wall.

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If you're in the Old City on Tuesdays, head for the Western (Wailing) Wall - the traditional day for Bar Mitzvah celebrations at the Holiest of Jewish sites. As the 13 year old boy reaches maturity and manhood, and is now seen as old enough to be 'responsible' for himself, no longer the spiritual responsibility of his parents, so many Bar Mitzvahs take place at the Wall.

It is mainly overseas 'pilgrims' that undertake the celebration here and it is a cacophony of noise, celebration and joy. It's quite an amazing sight, with many celebrations taking place simultaneously.

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In Judaism the Western Wall is venerated as the sole remnant of the Holy Temple. It has become a place of pilgrimage for Jews. So the Western Wall Plaza is always full of people – Jews and Christian pilgrims and tourists.

You can watch my 8 min 41 sec HD Video Jerusalem Wailing Wall Pesakh out of my Youtube channel.

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The Western Wall is also known as the Wailing Wall or simply the Kotel, and as al-Buraaq Wall in Arabic. It is an important Jewish religious site located in the Old City.
Just over half the wall, including its 17 courses located below street level, dates from the end of the Second Temple period, being constructed around 19 BCE by Herod the Great. The remaining layers were added from the 7th century onwards.