Wilson’s Arch Jerusalem
Today I am showing you the Wilson’s Arch Jerusalem, a stone arch supporting a road that led to temple mount during the second temple period. This road was used also by Jesus when he visited the temple as a boy with his parents and as an adult during his ministry.
Today, the top part of the stone arch is visible where it is supported against the Northeast corner of the Western Wall and it is appeared on the left to visitor facing the western wall.
Today we can see a larger part of the Wilson’s Arch Jerusalem within the Western Wall Tunnels through the archaeological excavation and restoration works.
The Arch Name
The Arch is named after the 19th century explorer and surveyor Charles William Wilson who joined the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem in 1864, continuing to participate in the city surveying project that was established to improve the city’ water system.
Excavation and restoration
The Arch was rediscovered in 1963 by Duke University archeologist Dr. D. F. Stinespring, Professor of Old Testament and Semitics at the Duke Divinity school, who continued his exploration of the hidden tunnels associated with the ancient Temple during the university’s summer breaks.
After Six day war (1967), the Israel’s Ministry of Religious Affairs began to excavate the area of the Western Wall still unexposed and dig a tunnel beneath the excising structures above. These excavations which are today part of the Western Wall Tunnels convinced the archeologists that the arch was built during Herod’s time.
According to the writing of Josephus, the Wilson’s Arch Jerusalem was part of a bridge that connected the Temple Mount to the Upper City on the Western Hill and also carried water by aqueduct from Solomons’ Pools to the Temple Mount.
That’s it for today, and until we meet in my next video, Let’s All Live the Jerusalem Experience!
