The Chain Gate

This is an impressive gate leading to the Temple Mount. The passage from this gate to the Temple Mount is open to Muslim worshippers and visitors only. The origin of the gate’s name is the chain dome in the Temple Mount. The chain dome, Kubat A Silsila, is located above an open structure with ten sides, on the eastern side of the Dome of the Rock. The structure was apparently built during the 7^th century. According to a Muslim legend, King David used to conduct just trials with a magical chain hung at the center of the dome. The accused would reach out in the attempt to snatch the chain, and succeeded in doing so only if he spoke the truth. The double gate structure was built during the crusader era. In these days it was known as “The Magnificent Gate”. Following the conquest of Salah A Din, during the Ayyubid era, the crusader church was renovated. The archeological excavations at the gate’s front uncovered remnants of a grand staircase dating back to the Roman era, as well as remnants of the main street which crossed Jerusalem during the Roman era from west to east, the “Decomanus”. Next to the gate there is a sebil built during the times of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1537. The water trough of the sebil is actually a sarcophagus (a burial coffin made of stone) from the Roman times. On the upper part of the sebil there is an impressive rose embossment, and an arch with a zigzag decoration, which may have been taken from the ruins site and integrated into the sebil.