PORTES DE LA VIEILLE VILLE

The walls of the old town were built between 1537 and 1542 by Suleiman the Magnificent (1494-1566), along the lines of the Roman fortifications. They were pierced by seven gates, and an eighth was added in the ^19th century. The structure is almost 5 km long, and although it has undergone many restorations, it is still intact after five hundred eventful years. You can walk along the ramparts from Jaffa Gate (see The Ramparts Walk).

The gates of the Old City are all accessible, with the notable exception of the Golden Gate.

Jaffa Gate is the best-known. It is the most important node in the Old City, and the main entrance when arriving from the New City. It opens to the west and once marked the beginning of the road leading to Jaffa's old port. For the Arabs, it's Bab el-Khalil, the Gate of Hebron (Al-Khalil in Arabic). In 1898, it had to be widened to allow the carriage of Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany, to pass through.

The New Gate, to the north, is the most recent, as its name suggests. It was built in 1889 by Sultan Abdul Ahmid, to give the Christian quarter direct access to the new city.

The Damascus Gate overlooks East Jerusalem and is the main entrance to the Muslim quarter of the Old City. Already in Roman times, there was a gate here, marking the main entrance to the city and the starting point of the ancient road to Damascus. Today, the road to Nablus starts here, hence its Hebrew name of "Shahar Shekhem", the "Gate of Shechem". The Arabs have retained the older name of "Bab el-Amoud", or "Column Gate", referring to a column erected here by the Roman emperor Hadrian. Outside, in front of an amphitheatre-shaped esplanade, you can watch the lively souk that begins here and extends to the other side of the walls.

Herod 's Gate lies to the northeast of the city and gives access to the Muslim quarter. It owes its name to the mistaken belief of Christian pilgrims that this was once the home of King Herod Antipas. It is also known as the Porte des Fleurs (Gate of Flowers), due to the floral motifs engraved on its façade, and the Porte des Turcs (Gate of the Turks). It was near this gate that, in 1099, the Crusaders breached the wall, allowing them to infiltrate the city.

The Lion 's Gate or Saint Stephen's Gate opens onto the Mount of Olives. It is decorated with lions, carved in bas-relief on either side of the gate. According to legend, the lions represent those who appeared to Suleiman in a dream, ordering him to build the city walls. Christians called it Saint Stephen's Gate because they believed the saint had been stoned to death there. The Arabs called it Bâb Sittia Maryam, meaning "Gate of the Virgin Mary", in reference to the house of the parents of Jesus' mother, which according to tradition was located nearby. It opens onto the Via Dolorosa and the Muslim quarter. It was through this gate that, on June 7, 1967, Israeli troops launched the assault that enabled them to take control of the Old City.

The Golden Gate, also known as the Mercy Gate, is walled in. It is the oldest gate in the city walls. It stands opposite the Mount of Olives. If it could be crossed, it would give direct access to the Esplanade of the Mosques. According to Jewish tradition, this is the gate through which the Messiah will enter Jerusalem. For Christians, Jesus would have passed through here on his way to the Temple. Muslim tradition also claims that a conqueror used it to raze the city to the ground. Closed by the Muslims in 810, reopened in 1102 by the Crusaders, it was walled up for the first time by Saladin in 1187. Rebuilt along with the city walls by Suleiman, it was finally walled off by his order in 1541.

The Dung Gate, which gives access to the Jewish Quarter to the south, is so called because it was here that the garbage of ancient Jerusalem was evacuated, to be burned in the Valley of Gehenna. It is also known as the "Gate of the Maghrebis", Bab el-Maghariba in Arabic, because North African immigrants settled nearby in the ^16th century. It is the smallest of Jerusalem's gates, and the closest to the Wailing Wall and the Mosque Esplanade. For this reason, a checkpoint has been erected just on the other side of the gate: all those going to the Wailing Wall or the Temple Mount must pass through a search and metal detectors.

The Zion Gate, which gives access to the Armenian Quarter, was built by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1540 to give the Franciscan monks living on Mount Zion access to the city. Arabs also call it "Bab el-Yahoud", "Jew's Gate", because of its proximity to the Jewish quarter of the Old City; or "Bâb el-Daoud", "David's Gate", because it stands in front of the site where David is said to have been buried. The holes and cracks caused by firearm projectiles bear witness to the violence of the first Arab-Israeli war (1948-1949).