Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem

Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem: 1. Jaffa
2. Zion
3. Dung
4. Golden (walled up)
5. Lions
6. Herod
7. Damascus
8. New Gate

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Quarters:

   Christian

   Armenian

   Jewish

   Muslim

   Temple Mount

This article lists the gates of the Old City of Jerusalem . The gates are visible on most old maps of Jerusalem over the last 1,500 years.

During different periods, the city walls followed different outlines and had a varying number of gates. During the era of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099–1291), Jerusalem had four gates, one on each side. ^[1]

The current walls of the Old City of Jerusalem were built between 1533 and 1540 on orders of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who provided them with seven gates: six new gates were built, and the older and previously sealed Golden Gate was reopened (only to be re-sealed again after a few years). The seven gates at the time of Suleiman were, clockwise and by their current name: the Damascus Gate; Herod's Gate; Lions' Gate; Golden Gate; Dung Gate; Zion Gate; and Jaffa Gate. ^[2]

With the re-sealing of the Golden Gate by Suleiman, the number of operational gates was only brought back to seven in 1887, with the addition of the New Gate. ^[3]

Until 1887,^{[ citation needed ]} each gate was closed before sunset and opened at sunrise. ^[4]

List

The seven gates at the time of Solomon were: Damascus Gate; Golden Gate; Herod's Gate; Jaffa Gate; Lions' Gate; Silwan Gate (also known as Mughrabi Gate, and now as Dung Gate); and Zion Gate. After the re-sealing of the Golden Gate already in Solomon's time, the number of operational gates was only brought back to seven with the addition of the New Gate in 1887.

English	Hebrew	Arabic	Alternative names	Construction year	Location	Status	Image
Golden Gate	Sha'ar HaRahamim שער הרחמים "Gate Of Mercy"	Bab al-Dhahabi / al-Zahabi, "Golden Gate" باب الذهبي	A double gate, last sealed in 1541. In Arabic also known as the Gate of Eternal Life.[ citation needed ] In Arabic each door has its own name: Gate of Mercy, Bab al-Rahma (باب الرحمة) – the southern door Gate of Repentance, Bab al-Taubah (باب التوبة) – the northern door	6th century	Northern third of eastern side	Sealed
Damascus Gate	Sha'ar Shkhem שער שכם "Nablus Gate"	Bab al-Amoud باب العمود	Sha'ar Damesek, Nablus Gate, Gate of the Pillar	1537	Middle of northern wall	Open
Herod's Gate	Sha'ar HaPerachim שער הפרחים "Gate Of The Flowers"	Bab al-Sahira باب الساهرة	Sha'ar Hordos, Flower Gate, Sheep Gate	1537; greatly expanded in 1875	East part of northern wall	Open
Dung Gate / Silwan Gate / Maghrabi Gate	Sha'ar HaAshpot שער האשפות "Gate Of Trash"	Bab al-Maghariba باب المغاربة	Gate of Silwan, Sha'ar HaMugrabim	1538–40	East part of southern wall	Open
Lions' Gate	Sha'ar HaArayot שער האריות	Bab al-Asbatt باب الأسباط	Gate of Yehoshafat, St. Stephen's Gate, Gate of the Tribes, St. Mary's Gate (باب ستي مريم, Bab Sittna Maryam)	1538–39	North part of eastern wall	Open
Jaffa Gate	Sha'ar Yafo שער יפו	Bab al-Khalil باب الخليل	The Gate of David's Prayer Shrine, Porta Davidi	1530–40	Middle of western wall	Open
Zion Gate	Sha'ar Tzion שער ציון	Bab al-Nabi Da'oud باب النبي داود	Gate to the Jewish Quarter	1540	Middle of southern wall	Open
New Gate	HaSha'ar HeHadash השער החדש	Al-Bab al-Jedid الباب الجديد	Gate of Hammid	1887	West part of northern wall	Open

Previous gates

A smaller entrance, popularly known as the Tanners' Gate,^{[ citation needed ]} has been opened for visitors after being discovered and unsealed during excavations in the 1990s.^{[ citation needed ]}

Sealed historic gates, other than the Golden Gate, comprise three that are at least partially preserved (the Single, Triple, and Double Gates in the southern wall),^{[ citation needed ]} with several other gates discovered by archaeologists of which only traces remain (the so-called Gate of the Essenes on Mount Zion, the gate of Herod's royal palace south of the citadel, and the vague remains of what 19th-century explorers identified as the Gate of the Funerals (Bab al-Jana'iz) or of al-Buraq (Bab al-Buraq) south of the Golden Gate). ^[5]

English	Hebrew	Arabic	Alternative names	Construction year	Location	Status	Image
"Tanners' Gate" [ citation needed ]	Sha'ar HaBursekaim שער הבורסקאים			12th century [ citation needed ]	East part of southern wall	Open
Excavators' Gate [ citation needed ]			Excavation Gate. (Eastern gate of the main Umayyad palace, attributed to Caliph Al-Walid I (705–715). Destroyed by an earthquake around 749, walled up when the Ottoman wall was built (1537–41), reopened and rebuilt by archaeologists led by Benjamin Mazar and Meir Ben-Dov in 1968.) [6] [7]	705–715, 1968 [ citation needed ]	Wall south of Al-Aqsa Mosque	Open
Single Gate [ citation needed ]			This gate led to the underground area of the Temple Mount known as Solomon's Stables	Herodian period	Southern wall of Temple Mount	Sealed
Huldah Gates	Sha'arei Chulda שערי חולדה		Two gates: The Triple Gate, as it comprises three arches. Also known as Bab an-Nabi (باب النبي, "Gate of the Prophet Muhammad") The Double Gate, two arches, partially hidden from view by mediaeval building	Herodian period	Southern wall of Temple Mount	Sealed

In culture

In his book Stirring Times: Or Records from Jerusalem Consular Chronicles of 1853 to 1856, James Finn described a custom that took place in the 19th century concerning the city gates. According to him, whenever the Ottoman Sultan died, the keys to the city gates were brought to the Jews. They would offer prayers over them and anoint them with perfumes, after which the keys were returned to the Muslim authorities. The Muslims permitted this practice, as some believed that the blessing of the "Children of Israel" was "worth having". ^[8]

See also

• Gates of the Temple Mount
• Walls of Jerusalem

References

1. Margolin, Elaine (2022-11-28). "Teller, Matthew. Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City. New York, NY: Other Press, 2022". Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary e-Journal. 18 (2). doi: 10.33137/wij.v18i2.39688 . ISSN   1209-9392.
2. "Sebag-Montefiore, Simon Jonathan, (born 1965), writer; historian; novelist", Who's Who, Oxford University Press, 2008-12-01, retrieved 2025-09-12
3. Kalimi, Isaac; Richardson, Seth (2014-01-01), "1. Sennacherib at the Gates of Jerusalem—Story, History and Historiography: An Introduction", Sennacherib at the Gates of Jerusalem, BRILL, pp. 1–7, ISBN   978-90-04-26562-2 , retrieved 2025-09-12
4. "Acknowledgments", The Topography of Ancient Jerusalem. 2nd Century BC - 2nd Century AD, Peeters Publishers, pp. V–VIII, 2022-03-02, retrieved 2025-09-12
5. Necipoğlu, Gülru (2008). "The Dome of the Rock as a palimpsest: 'Abd al-Malik's grand narrative and Sultan Süleyman's glosses" (PDF). Muqarnas: An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic. 25. Leiden: Brill: 20–21. ISBN   9789004173279. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
6. "The Function and Plan of the 'Palaces'". The Jerusalem Archaeological Park – Davidson Center. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
7. Meir Ben-Dov (1987). The Excavation Gate (18). Jerusalem: East Jerusalem Development Ltd. p. 20. Thus for all intents and purposes, a ninth gate has been opened in the walls of Jerusalem.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
8. Finn, James (1878). Stirring Times, Or, Records from Jerusalem Consular Chronicles of 1853 to 1856. C. Kegan Paul. pp. 117–118.