Jerusalem is a city of contradictions. For thousands of years, it’s been a source of holiness, dispute, inspiration and struggle. Some of the most iconic images of the city are the walls that surround it.
Jaffa Gate is the main entrance to the Old City today. In the 16th century C.E., Suliman the Magnificent, ruler of the Ottoman Empire, decided to build a wall around the city of Jerusalem. It took him only four years to build it. The main reason was that he used recycled stones and didn’t carve new ones.
The Ottoman built the wall for several purposes: the main one being protection from intruders. For that reason, choosing the right location was crucial.
Instead of wearing armor and helmets, Turkish guards wore light outfits to avoid accidents. The wall also contains some architectural elements to assist the guards.
It is only possible to see from from above how dense and narrow the Old City of Jerusalem is — a highly significant site for all the Abrahamic religions.
The city is currently divided into four quarters: Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Aramaic.
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I had a Lubavitcher tour Tour Guide 8 years ago (I wish I can remember his name) that gave us a fantastic tour of the old city for 8 hours straight he did not stop talking quoting Torah, Neviim, Mishna, Gemora, even insights from the Rebbi that were relevant to the issues and sites we were seeing. It was so amazing I’ve had many tours of Jerusalem never that I had such a fantastic tour like that one, he did not mention even once anything connected with Christianity or Islam it seemed as if there was nothing else in Jerusalem… Read more »
Excellent guide and great guy all around. He did a tour for Cteen.