Constructed in 1540 by Suleiman the Magnificent, the Zion Gate is one of eight gates built into the walls of the Old City. Located in the southwestern part of the Old City’s wall, it connects the Armenian Quarter and the Jewish Quarter to Mount Zion.
Preservation work on the Zion Gate was completed in 2008. The work included cleaning of the stones and restoration of stones which had been damaged in the Israeli War of Independence. The original shell and bullet damage has been preserved.
Israeli forces attempted to end the siege on the Jewish Quarter by storming the Zion Gate on June 6, 1948, but were forced to give up after three hours of fighting.
See also-
- Jerusalem Post- Preservation project marks 468th birthday of Jerusalem’s Zion Gate
- Photographs of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, Charles W. Wilson, 1865.
- Jewish Attack on Zion Gate Driven Back, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle, June 7, 1948.
- Jewish Quarter Residents Evacuating the Old City through the Zion Gate, May 1948.
- The Exodus, Zion Gate, 7-00 PM, May 28, 1948.