The Western Wall Tunnels

The Kotel Tunnels (Minharot Hakotel) site is operated by The Western Wall Heritage Foundation. Regular tours take place in the ancient tunnels by the Western Wall.

From the time of the Temples destruction we have been unable to ascend Temple Mount to stand in the place where the temple used to be. As the years and centuries passed, the Kotel came to symbolize millennia of Jewish history and heritage as it was transformed into the focus of the Jewish peoples longing for the glories of its past. For hundreds of years the indignity of destruction concealed the major part of the Western Wall. The few stones visible told a tale of devastation.
In 5727 (1967), soon after the liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem, the Ministry of Religious Affairs undertook the task of clearing the Western Wall Plaza area. The Ministry also initiated a project to expose the full extent of the hitherto concealed Wall - a project with a goal beyond mere scientific and archaeological curiosity. The workers pickaxes stripped away the centuries to make this ancient heritage visible and tangible to the Jewish People. Many tons of dirt and refuse were laboriously removed by hand to expose magnificent underground structures, creating a continuous chain wrought in stone stretching from the Hasmonean era until our time. These excavations revealed the entire length of the Western Wall 488 meters in all its glory. Rooms and public halls were discovered, as well as a section of a Second Temple road, a Hasmonean water tunnel, a pool, and many other finds. The site is a lodestone imparting to every one of us a sense of the profound affinity we feel for Jerusalem.

When pre ordering tickets for the tour, please indicate if a guide is needed.

Telephone: 02-6271333

Please see the Westen Wall Tunnels website for a virtual tour and more information: http://thekotel.org/