The Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem

As I was touring Jerusalem today with a group and entering and exiting through some of the amazing Jerusalem gates, I felt I wanted to share with you this experience. This video gives us a lot of information about the Gates of Jerusalem over the different periods. Despite the fact that some of the photos are not of best quality, I highly recommend to watch and to listen to this video.

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to watch and learn about the GOLDEN GATE. This gate is also known as the Mercy Gate in the Jewish tradition. This is one of the city gates that is not mentioned in this video.

All the gates and the walls that we can see today surrounding the Old City were built by the Ottomans in 1537 AD, approximately 500 years ago. The Jaffa Gate got its name as that is where the way to Jaffa began.

Near this gate, the Ottomans opened the walls solely because of tradition. The Caesar of Germany, Wilhelm II, being a Christian, requested the Sultan to visit the Holy sites in the Old City. The tradition says that you cannot enter a fortified city on a horseback through one of its gates, unless you have conquered it. Thus, if he were to come on his chariot, he would not be able to get through the gate. Since the Sultan wanted Caesar to visit the city, he had to open the city walls in order for Caesar Wilhelm II to be able to enter the city.

The Lion Gate is one of the 8 gates of the City (including the Golden Gate which is currently blocked). The previous name was Steven’s Gate named after the 1st martyr that was stoned out of this gate. Prior to that, the name was the Gate of the Sheep, as is mentioned in the Book of John ch:5.