As the Bible tells us, the 533-meter-long tunnel was dug by King Hezekiah so that he could fortify the city against the invading Assyrian armies without compromising its main water source, the Gihon Spring, which lay outside the walls: “And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.
So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?” (2 Chronicles 32:2-4). According to an inscription in the tunnel, it took two years to dig, with two teams starting at each end and meeting in the middle. The tunnel was discovered in 1838 by US Bible scholar Edward Robinson. Besides the awesome experience of walking through an almost 3,000-year-old man-made tunnel, visitors – children especially – will enjoy the simple pleasure of wading through water that at times is waist-high.
Get your tickets to the City of David where you can enjoy a short trek through Hezekiah’s Tunnel in knee-high water.
