Damascus Gate :: Jerusalem :: Old City

The Damascus Gate (also known as Shechem Gate or Nablus Gate) (or in Arabic: Bab-al-Amud, meaning Gate of the Column) is an important gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. The modern gate was built in 1542 by the Ottoman ruler Suleiman the Magnificent.

The original gate was presumably built in Second Temple times. The Romans built a new gate at the time of Hadrian, in the second century AD. In front of the gate stood a Roman victory column, shown on the Madaba Map, thus giving the gate its name in Arabic to this day, Bab el-Amud, The Column Gate. The column has never been found, but the Roman gate can be seen today, due to excavations made during the British mandate. This was the northern entrance gate to the city at the time of the Crusades.