Western Wall

The Western Wall is the exposed western retaining wall of the Temple Mount platform in Jerusalem, revered in Judaism as the closest accessible site to the former Temple’s Holy of Holies. The visible prayer section measures roughly 57 metres in length.

Pilgrims and worshippers gather at the open-air plaza for prayer beside the ancient Herodian stones, with notes and prayers commonly placed in wall crevices. Nearby published tours and guided visits often include access to the Western Wall Tunnels, which reveal longer stretches of the original wall below street level.

The retaining wall was constructed during the Herodian expansion of the Second Temple complex under Herod the Great, around the late 1st century BCE. The Second Temple itself was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, after which the wall remained a focus of Jewish reverence and pilgrimage through subsequent centuries.

The Western Wall is in the Old City of Jerusalem, at the foot of the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif complex; it is adjacent to other religious and historic sites in the city’s eastern sector.

• Dimensions: The visible prayer section of the Wall is about 57 metres long and reaches up to around 19 metres in height; additional wall sections continue below ground and along the tunnel system.
• Prayer arrangements and peak times: The plaza is divided into separate prayer sections for men and women and is busiest on Jewish holidays and the Sabbath morning, when capacity is limited by the open-air plaza size.

What to See #

• Prayer plaza: An open-air plaza directly in front of the exposed western face of the Herodian retaining wall, divided into separate men's and women's prayer areas and used for public worship and private prayer.
• Western Wall Tunnels: A network of underground passages and excavated sections that extend the visible remains of the ancient retaining wall and allow access to earlier courses of Herodian masonry.