After years of archaeological excavations and restoration work by the Israel Antiquities Authority, a new tourist route has opened in the tunnels under the Western Wall: the Great Bridge Route. YEHUDA DEUTSCH Tour guide at the Western Wall Heritage Foundation "The bridge was first built about two thousand years ago, during the reign of the Hasmoneans. At that time there was a valley below us, and the bridge was built so that Jews would not have to go down from the city into the valley floor and then up to the Temple Mount - it was an easier route to the Temple." According to archaeologists, the current Bab al-Silsilah road, which leads to the Al Aqsa Mosque, is on the route of the great bridge, whose arches are still visible in the tunnels. Archaeologists have also found a building at the foot of the Temple Mount, near what was the route of the money-changers' stores - located outside the Temple gates. The building was decorated with columns topped with capitals. It would have been built expressly for the wealthy people of Jerusalem, whom Herod wanted to entice by building for them luxurious pools and mikvehs, the ritual baths. Water came to these pools through a system of aqueducts from Solomon's Pools, which were over 20 kilometers away. YEHUDA DEUTSCH Tour guide at the Western Wall Heritage Foundation "There is an opening at the top of in each column. Behind the wall is a well for water. When the well was full, it came out of the grooves in the columns." YEHUDA DEUTSCH Tour guide at the Western Wall Heritage Foundation "This pool was used by the rich people of the city: they would come here just before entering the temple. They would enter the water to purify themselves spiritually." The last arch that supported the "great bridge" was the largest and passed over the stores outside the temple gates. YEHUDA DEUTSCH Tour guide at the Western Wall Heritage Foundation "The builders did not want to erect a column in the middle of the road to support two arches, so they built a large arch at the end of the bridge." Archaeologists also found the remains of a Roman amphitheater. YEHUDA DEUTSCH Tour guide at the Western Wall Heritage Foundation "We must remember that the Romans demolished the Temple and accumulated the stones of the wall that had fallen and shattered on one side. Later they used these stones to build an amphitheater." Among the archaeological findings there are also stone balls, probably thrown by Roman catapults during the fighting in 70 AD, when the destruction of the Temple took place. The tunnels of the Western Wall continue to give us new discoveries, emerging from the ashes of the past. Read More