Damascus Gate

The Damascus Gate is one of the main entrances to Jerusalem's Old City along the northern wall. The current Ottoman structure was built in 1537 under Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Beneath it lies a Roman-era triumphal gate with three arched openings, dating to c. 135 AD when Emperor Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina. A victory column topped with Hadrian's statue once stood in the plaza behind the gate, depicted on the 6th-century Madaba Map and preserved in the Arabic name Bab al-Amud ("Gate of the Column"). Excavations by Hennessy and Bennett (1964-66) and Magen (1979-84) exposed the Roman gate facade, flanking towers, and paved plaza.