Wilson's Arch (Jerusalem)
Wilson's Arch is the modern name for an ancient stone arch in Jerusalem, the first in a row of arches that supported a large bridge connecting the Herodian Temple Mount with the Upper City on the opposite Western Hill. The Arch springs from the Western Wall and is still visible underneath later buildings set against the Wall. The name Wilson's Arch is also used to denote the hall that it partially covers, which is currently used as a synagogue. This hall opens towards the Western Wall Plaza at the Plaza's northeast corner, so that it appears on the left of the prayer section of the Western Wall to visitors facing the Wall.
Western Wall, with view of Wilson's Arch (at left)
Wilson's 1871 diagram
Sketch of Wilson's discovery
Torah Ark inside men's section of Wilson's Arch.
The Western Wall, known in the West as the Wailing Wall, and in Islam as the Buraq Wall, is a portion of ancient limestone wall in the Old City of Jerusalem that forms part of the larger retaining wall of the hill known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount. The term Western Wall and its variations are either used in a narrow sense, for the section of the wall used for Jewish prayer, or in a broader sense, referring to the entire 488-metre-long (1,601 ft) retaining wall on the western side of the Temple Mount.
A view of the Western Wall
Herodian ashlars of the Western Wall
Panorama of the Western Wall with the Dome of the Rock (left) and al-Aqsa mosque (right) in the background
The Western Wall and Dome of the Rock