Western Wall
The Western Wall (Hebrew: הכותל המערבי, translit.: HaKotel HaMa'aravi), Wailing Wall or Kotel (lit. Wall; Ashkenazic pronunciation: Kosel); (Arabic: حائط البراق, "The Buraq Wall") is located in the Old City of Jerusalem at the foot of the western side of the Temple Mount. It is a remnant of the ancient wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple's courtyard and is one of the most sacred sites in Judaism outside of the Temple Mount itself. 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. The Western Wall refers not only to the exposed section facing a large plaza in the Jewish Quarter, but also to the sections concealed behind structures running along the whole length of the Temple Mount, such as the Little Western Wall - a 25 ft (8 m) section in the Muslim Quarter.
It has been a site for Jewish prayer and pilgrimage for centuries, the earliest
source mentioning Jewish attachment to the site dating from the 4th century.
From the mid-19th century onwards, attempts to purchase rights to the wall and
its immediate area were made by various Jews, but none were successful. With the
rise of the Zionist movement in the early 20th-century, the wall became a source
of friction between the Jewish community and the Muslim religious leadership,
who were worried that the wall was being used to further Jewish nationalistic
claims to the Temple Mount and Jerusalem. Outbreaks of violence at the foot of
the wall became commonplace and an international commission was convened in 1930
to determine the rights and claims of Muslims and Jews in connection with the
wall. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War the wall came under Jordanian control and
Jews were barred from the site for 19 years until Israel captured the Old City
in 1967.
Text from Wikipedia
Western Wall Plaza
for cleansing before prayer
Women's Prayer Section
entrance to the Dome of the Rock
