Temple Mount

Overview

The Temple Mount is a walled, elevated precinct in the southeastern corner of the Old City of Jerusalem, Israel. It is Judaism’s holiest site and location of First and Second Jewish Temples. The English name preserves that history. The precinct is also holy to Islam, in whose tradition it is known as Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary. Its best-known buildings are Dome of the Rock, a shrine on central platform, and Al-Aqsa Mosque at southern end. These are distinct buildings within a larger historic site, rather than names for a single structure. Nearby Western Wall is part of Mount’s western retaining wall; Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a separate Christian holy site elsewhere in Old City.

Present enclosure rests substantially on retaining walls associated with King Herod’s enlargement of Second Temple complex. Its broad esplanade, gates, cisterns, platforms and buildings preserve layers of Jewish, Christian and Muslim history. Foundation Stone, exposed within Dome of the Rock, has particular significance in Jewish tradition. Scholars differ over whether Holy of Holies or Temple altar stood at rock’s location; one proposed reconstruction places Temple building farther north, near Dome of the Winds. These differences concern precise placement within precinct, not historical existence of Jewish Temples there.

Site’s religious importance gives decisions about worship, access and security consequences beyond Jerusalem. Since 1967, Israel has maintained overall security control, while Islamic Waqf has managed daily Muslim religious affairs. Jews and other non-Muslims may visit during limited hours, but open Jewish prayer remains restricted. Israel’s 1994 peace treaty with Jordan recognizes kingdom’s special role concerning Muslim holy shrines in Jerusalem. That arrangement sits alongside Temple Mount’s ancient Jewish history and its continuing place in Jewish worship and memory.

Biblical and ancient history

Jewish tradition identifies Temple Mount with Mount Moriah and Binding of Isaac. Biblical accounts place David’s purchase of a threshing floor there and attribute construction of First Temple to his son Solomon, after David established Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Temple became center of Jewish national and religious life. Its sanctuaries housed priestly service and animal offerings, while pilgrims traveled to Jerusalem for major festivals. An account of King Uzziah tells how he entered Temple to burn incense despite priestly objections, developed leprosy and ceased public rule while his son Jotham governed. The narrative illustrates Temple’s distinction between royal and priestly duties.

Babylonian forces destroyed First Temple in 586 BCE and carried many Jews into exile. Jews returning from Babylon rebuilt Second Temple on same site roughly 70 years later. Reconstruction restored a central place for worship, pilgrimage and communal life. During Second Temple period, worshippers brought offerings, including large numbers of animals during pilgrimage festivals. Pilgrims generally entered Temple Mount from right and exited from left. Mourners walked opposite way, making grief visible so other pilgrims could stop to comfort them, even when they came from another city or social group.

Herod began a vast rebuilding and expansion of Second Temple precinct in late first century BCE. Massive retaining walls supported an enlarged platform capable of receiving daily worshippers and crowds arriving for Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot. Many pilgrims entered through southern gates and climbed toward Temple. Ancient steps and an adjacent ritual bath recall preparation for entry; researchers interpret bath’s alternating step lengths as a deliberate interruption of ordinary movement before approaching a sacred place. Josephus described richly decorated Temple gates, including gold and silver on doorposts and lintels, and gold around an inner gate that dazzled visitors. Accounts of Herodian architecture can be considered alongside surviving stonework and architectural fragments.

Roman forces destroyed Second Temple in 70 CE during Jewish revolt against Rome; final resistance at Masada ended in 74. Destruction ended Temple-centered sacrificial worship. Jewish religious life developed around synagogue prayer, study and rabbinic leadership, while prayer for restoration of Temple retained Jerusalem as its focus. Roman restrictions later limited Jewish access. In fourth century, Emperor Julian attempted to facilitate rebuilding of Jewish Temple as part of his religious policy, but project ended after his death. Byzantine Christian rule left further traces in precinct’s material history.

Later history

Arab conquest of Jerusalem in 638 CE began a new period of Muslim use of Temple Mount. Early Muslim authorities cleared and developed precinct while inheriting a place already central to Jewish history. Construction of Dome of the Rock began around 680 to enshrine exposed Foundation Stone; Al-Aqsa Mosque developed at southern end in early eighth century. Archaeologist Dan Bahat recorded an account that Jewish elders identified stone’s boundaries for shrine’s builders after site had accumulated refuse. Jerusalem’s early Arabic name Bait al-Makdis also preserves a linguistic connection with Temple. Muslim sacred buildings thus became part of site’s history without replacing its earlier Jewish identity.

Christian Crusaders held Jerusalem from 1099 to 1187, converting major Muslim buildings on Mount to Christian uses and interrupting its long period of predominantly Muslim ritual use. Saladin’s reconquest restored Muslim worship there. Subsequent Mamluk and Ottoman rulers maintained and altered precinct, while Jewish access varied. Under Ottoman rule, Jews established a durable place of prayer beside Western Wall. During British Mandate, earthquake of July 11, 1927, centered near northern Dead Sea and later estimated at magnitude 6.2, damaged several cities and severely affected roof and dome of Al-Aqsa Mosque. Waqf repairs exposed material documented by British antiquities official Robert Hamilton.

False claims about Jewish intentions at Temple Mount helped incite violence under Mandate. Haj Amin al-Husseini spread claims that Jews intended to seize precinct and build a Third Temple before 1929 violence, including Hebron massacre. Fighting after Muslim prayers at Temple Mount killed three Jews and three Arabs in Jerusalem one day before massacre began. After 1948 war, Jordan controlled Old City and denied Jews access to Western Wall. Israel captured Old City during Six-Day War in 1967, restoring Jewish access to Jerusalem’s holy places. Defense Minister Moshe Dayan affirmed Jewish return to those places while pledging respect for sacred sites and religious rights of others.

On June 17, 1967, Dayan met Waqf and Supreme Muslim Council leaders inside Al-Aqsa Mosque. To reduce risk of wider religious conflict, he preserved Muslim administration of Temple Mount, permitted Jewish visits and restricted Jewish prayer there, directing Jewish public prayer to Western Wall. Israel retained security responsibility. This informal arrangement became known as status quo. Jordan continued to support Waqf, and Article 9 of 1994 Israel–Jordan peace treaty states that Israel respects kingdom’s present special role in Muslim holy shrines in Jerusalem. King Abdullah II has treated protection of Muslim and Christian holy places as a Jordanian responsibility. Meetings in Amman in November 2014 with Abdullah, John Kerry and Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed arrangements, though immediate easing of tensions did not resolve wider disagreements.

Archaeology

Archaeology at and around Temple Mount has produced evidence from many periods, even though religious sensitivity limits excavation within precinct. Lower courses of Herodian retaining walls, southern approaches and gates, ritual installations and architectural fragments illuminate Second Temple complex. Two Greek copies of an ancient warning inscription barring non-Jews from entering inner Temple precinct have been identified, one in Turkey and another at Israel Museum. Other surviving or recovered material includes Byzantine and Crusader architectural elements. Together these remains document repeated building and reuse on a site whose Jewish history long predates its Muslim shrines.

Repairs after 1927 earthquake offered an unusual view beneath Al-Aqsa Mosque floors and above its ceilings. Hamilton documented exposed material, including ancient wooden beams. Later radiocarbon work described two reused roof timbers as dating to eighth or ninth century BCE, within First Temple period. Their age establishes antiquity of timber, though reuse means it does not by itself fix original position of wood in an ancient building. The repairs remain significant because they brought otherwise inaccessible material to scholarly attention and preserved a record of fabric associated with Mount’s long history.

In 1999, Waqf construction removed about 9,000 tons of soil, roughly 400 truckloads, from Temple Mount and deposited material in Kidron Valley. Temple Mount Sifting Project, led by archaeologists Gabriel Barkay and Zachi Dvira, examined dumped soil and recovered more than half a million artifacts spanning multiple periods. Finds include a First Temple-period clay seal impression with a fragmentary name associated with Immer, a priestly family mentioned in Jeremiah, and Second Temple-period coins, including a half-shekel connected with Temple tax. Because soil was removed without controlled excavation, individual finds cannot always be tied to an exact original location or layer on Mount. They nonetheless preserve material that might otherwise have been lost.

Archaeological work near access routes has also generated controversy. In 2007, Israel conducted salvage excavations during repairs to Mughrabi Gate route from Western Wall Plaza. Excavations were away from Al-Aqsa Mosque, and cameras supplied real-time views of work. Western Wall Tunnels follow retaining wall area; they do not run beneath Temple Mount or Al-Aqsa Mosque. Claims that these works undermined mosque are inconsistent with their location. Archaeological stewardship requires both preservation of Muslim buildings now standing on precinct and careful study of Jewish, Christian and other earlier remains.

Religious significance

For Judaism, Temple Mount is site of divine service at First and Second Temples and most sacred place associated with Jerusalem. Jewish prayer has faced its location for centuries, including during periods when Jews could not enter precinct. Tradition identifies Foundation Stone with Holy of Holies, innermost sanctuary of Temple, although exact ancient layout remains a subject of research. Western Wall and smaller accessible section called Small Western Wall are parts of Herodian retaining system, not surviving walls of Temple building itself. Small Western Wall, inside Old City’s Muslim Quarter, lies closer to traditional location of Holy of Holies than exposed prayer plaza at Western Wall.

Site’s holiness also shapes Jewish restrictions. Israel’s Chief Rabbinate and many other rabbinic authorities prohibit Jews from entering Temple Mount because ritual-purity requirements cannot now be met with certainty and boundaries of most sacred ancient areas remain uncertain. Rabbis cited in an Israeli security study especially prohibit entry to elevated area around Dome of the Rock. Other rabbis and Jewish visitors distinguish areas they regard as outside ancient sanctuary and support carefully limited visits. This religious disagreement is separate from public rules governing access and prayer.

For Islam, precinct is associated with Muhammad’s Night Journey and ascent to heaven, and is among religion’s holiest places. Dome of the Rock enshrines exposed bedrock; Al-Aqsa Mosque is a separate house of prayer. Christian history is also connected with Mount through Second Temple Jerusalem: Gospel accounts place Jesus at Temple, and surviving southern approaches provide physical context for travel to it. Church of the Holy Sepulchre, although central to Christian Jerusalem, stands elsewhere in Old City. Distinguishing these sites helps explain why Temple Mount carries overlapping religious significance without treating its buildings or traditions as interchangeable.

Access and disputes

Under status quo established after 1967, Israel maintains security and regulates entry while Jordan-linked Islamic Waqf conducts daily religious administration. Muslim worshippers can use multiple gates; Jews and other non-Muslims generally enter through Mughrabi Gate near Western Wall Plaza, during restricted visiting hours from Sunday to Thursday. Since 2000, non-Muslims have been barred from entering Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque. Visitors have also faced restrictions on religious objects. Jews may visit precinct but generally cannot conduct open prayer there. Since 2018, police have permitted quiet Jewish prayer without prayer accessories along a path near eastern wall, a limited exception documented by Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies. Israel has repeatedly affirmed its intention to preserve governing status quo.

Questions of access and security have repeatedly become flashpoints. In July 2017, three attackers from Umm al-Fahm opened fire near Temple Mount and killed two Israeli police officers, Druze Israelis Hayel Satawi, 30, and Kamil Shanan, 22. Israel temporarily closed site and installed metal detectors to prevent another armed attack. Subsequent protests and incitement intensified crisis. During same period, Omar al-Abed murdered Yosef, Chaya and Elad Salomon at their Shabbat dinner in Halamish. Public arguments over security measures did not alter central fact that Israel retained responsibility for preventing attacks while Waqf administered Muslim religious affairs.

During May 7–10, 2021, Arab rioters on Temple Mount stockpiled stone slabs, rocks and fireworks for attacks on Israeli police and Jews at Western Wall. Police entered compound on May 7 after thousands hurled stones and firecrackers. Violence unfolded amid tensions at Damascus Gate, Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan. Hamas, a terrorist organization, used Jerusalem events in Mohammed Deif’s ultimatum and subsequent escalation. Israel rerouted and then canceled May 10 Jerusalem Day Flag March and barred Jewish visitors from Temple Mount for 19 days, from May 4 through May 23. Restrictions showed how threats and violence could curtail Jewish entry even while site remained under Israeli security control.

False accounts of impending changes to Muslim worship have also fueled recurring crises. In 2022, Hamas warned against Jewish worship and promoted a false claim that Israel would apply divided prayer times used at Cave of the Patriarchs to Temple Mount. Earlier disputes included claims about Israeli excavations and arguments over terminology in UNESCO resolutions. A 2016 Arab-sponsored draft repeatedly used “Buraq Plaza” for Western Wall Plaza; Israel suspended cooperation with UNESCO after a resolution omitted Jewish names for holy sites. Such language disputes matter because Temple Mount’s Jewish and Muslim histories are both part of site’s documented past. On January 3, 2023, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir made a brief visit along ordinary visitor route without praying or changing entry rules, yet visit prompted diplomatic protests. Continued management of Temple Mount turns on protection of worshippers and historic structures, accurate recognition of its history, and enforcement of rules at site.