By September 28, 2008 Read More →

Rebuilding of the Walls of Jerusalem, 1538-1541

Exterior_of_the_North_Wall

Exterior of the North Wall of the City, East of the Damascus Gate. From Photographs of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, Charles W. Wilson, 1865.

The walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt by Suleiman the Magnificent in the years 1536 to 1541, apparently in response to the threat posed by the Emperor Charles V after his capture of Tunis in 1535.

The walls stretch for approximately 4.5 kilometres, (2.8 miles), and rise to a height of 5–15 metres, (16–49 feet), with a thickness of 3 metres, (10 ft). Altogether, the Old City walls contain 43 surveillance towers and 11 gates, seven of which are presently open.

Schur, Nathan. Twenty Centuries of Christian Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Tel Aviv- Dvir Publishing House, 1992.

Heike Zaun-Goshen, “Keys to the Treasure Trove – Jerusalem’s Old City Gates,” Jerusalem Post.

See also-

Photographs of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, Charles W. Wilson, 1865.

Posted in: Ottoman Period

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