"Hulda Gates" on the southern side of Jerusalem's Old City. The picture
shows the sealed "Triple Gate" (circa 1900)
This summer the Yisrael HaYom newspaper reported on archaeological artifacts found by a British scholar after part of the el-Aqsa mosque collapsed in the 1927 earthquake that struck Palestine. Reporter Nadav Shragai revealed that items from the period of the Second Jewish Temple were found but that their publication was suppressed.shows the sealed "Triple Gate" (circa 1900)
Remnant of the sealed "Double Gate" of "Hulda Gates." Above the gate's lintel are stones from Hadrian's temple to Jupiter,
destroyed by Constantine in 400 CE and re-used by the Arabs to build al-Aqsa. One stone is an inscription stone honoring
Hadrian who crushed the Bar-Kochba revolt in 135 CE and plowed over the Temple Mount
destroyed by Constantine in 400 CE and re-used by the Arabs to build al-Aqsa. One stone is an inscription stone honoring
Hadrian who crushed the Bar-Kochba revolt in 135 CE and plowed over the Temple Mount
"Robert Hamilton, the director of the antiquities department during the Mandatory period in pre-state Israel, reach[ed] an agreement with the [Islamic] waqf that would allow archaeological investigation on the Temple Mount, for the first time ever, in the area where the mosque had collapsed."
"In the book that Hamilton later published, he makes no mention of any findings that the Muslims would have found inconvenient. It was no coincidence that these findings came from two historical periods that preceded the Muslim period in Jerusalem: the Second Temple era and the Byzantine era."
"Beneath the floor of Al-Aqsa mosque, which had collapsed in the earthquake, Hamilton discovered the remains of a Jewish mikveh [ritual pool used for purification] that dated back to the Second Temple era. Apparently, Jews immersed in this mikveh before entering the Temple grounds."
Now we can understand other pictures in the Library of Congress collection
The collection includes two inexplicable pictures dated between 1920 and 1933 entitled "Ancient entrance to Temple beneath el-Aksa." The pictures were taken on the other side of the Hulda Gates, one of the major entrances to the Temple by pilgrims coming from the vast Shiloah (Silwan) pool. According to the Mishna, the gates were used for entering and exiting the Temple complex.
Original caption: "The Temple area. The Double Gate. Ancient entrance to Temple beneath el Aqsa." Note the
staircase that apparently led to the surface and the Temple plaza.
staircase that apparently led to the surface and the Temple plaza.
Clearly, the American Colony photographers entered the sacred area, like Hamilton, after the earthquake destroyed parts of the mosque in 1927 to take these rare photos. Otherwise, the area would have been off-limits.
