Wilson’s Arch on the Western Wall as it would have looked in the days of the New Testament.

Wilson’s Arch is the modern name for an arch that spanned 42 feet and supported a road that ran 75 feet above the Herodian pavement and valley below. The road at the top of Wilson’s Arch accessed a gate which was level with the surface of the Temple Mount in Jesus’ day. Although the arch stood high above the Herodian pavement, only the top is still visible today, where it is still supported against the Western Wall. Josephus mentions the bridge that this arch was a part of and says it connected the Temple Mount to the Upper City on the Western Hill on the other side of the Central (Tyropoeon) Valley. This bridge also carried water through an aqueduct to the Temple Mount from Solomon’s Pools. The arch was identified in 1864 by Charles Wilson.

Wilson's Arch can be seen in the corner of the Western Wall (top center of the photo). Today the height from the bottom of the arch to the pavement below is only 20 feet. In 30 AD the height was 75 feet.

Stones from inside and under Wilson’s arch. The original pavement would have been about 50 feet lower than it is now.

Prayer under Wilson's Arch beside a wooden cabinet which contains large scrolls of the Torah.