Strata: Temple Mount Rampart to Be Replaced with Bridge

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The fragile hill and rampart leading up to the Mugrabi Gate of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem will be demolished and replaced by a new bridge, Israel authorities announced. Though motivated by safety concerns, the excavation work is expected to be a bonzanza for archaeologists studying the history of Jerusalem.

Adjacent to the Western Wall, the hill was damaged by an earthquake in January 2004. A subsequent snowstorm caused a retaining wall beneath the hill to collapse and revealed the acute vulnerability of the hill—as well as much of the Temple Mount—to severe weather. Having already closed off a portion of the women’s section of the Western Wall plaza to protect worshipers, city officials fear a catastrophe. They are convinced that the only solution is to remove the hill and the rampart on top of it and replace both with a modern bridge to the Mugrabi Gate, which is currently the only entrance to the Temple Mount permitted to non-Muslims, as well as the Israeli police’s preferred access-point to the plaza above. According to the city’s chief engineer, Uri Sheetrit, a heavy rain could bring the rampart down.