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Tower of David
The Tower of David (Hebrew: מגדל דוד, romanized: Migdál Davíd), also known as the Citadel (Arabic: القلعة, romanized: al-Qalʿa), is an ancient citadel and contemporary museum, located near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem.
The citadel that stands today dates to the Mamluk and Ottoman periods. It was built on the site of a series of earlier ancient fortifications of the Hasmonean, Herodian, Byzantine and Early Muslim periods, after being destroyed repeatedly during the last decades of Crusader presence in the Holy Land by their Muslim enemies. It contains artifacts from the Iron Age including a quarry dated to the Second Temple period and pottery, fishbones, and other archaeological finds dating from the First Temple Period, and is a venue for benefit events, craft shows, concerts, and sound-and-light performances.
Dan Bahat, an Israeli archaeologist, writes that the original three Hasmonean towers standing in this area of the city were altered by Herod, and that "the northeastern tower was replaced by a much larger, more massive tower, dubbed the 'Tower of David' beginning in the 5th century CE" Originally referring to the Herodian tower in the northeast of the citadel, in the 19th century the name Tower of David began to refer to the 17th-century minaret at the opposite side of the citadel, and since 1967 officially refers to the entire citadel.
The Tower of David hosted several art exhibitions in the 1920s in a period dubbed by some the Tower of David Period in Israeli art.
The name Tower of David was first used for the Herodian tower in the 5th century CE by the Byzantine Christians, who believed the site to be the palace of King David. They borrowed the name Tower of David from the Song of Songs, attributed to Solomon, King David's son, who wrote: "Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men" (Song of Songs, 4:4).
An Arabic name of the massive Herodian-Mamluk northeast tower is the Burj al-Qalʾa (برج القلعة, 'Citadel Tower').
During the Early Muslim and Ayyubid periods it was known in Arabic as Miḥrāb Dāwūd, lit. 'David's miḥrāb (prayer place)'. Note that there is also another mihrab called Miḥrāb Dāwūd, built into the inner side of the Southern Wall of the Haram esh-Sharif/Temple Mount.
During the 2nd century BCE, the Old City of Jerusalem expanded further onto the so-called Western Hill. This 773-metre (2,536 ft) high prominence, which comprises the modern Armenian and Jewish Quarters as well as Mount Zion, was bounded by steep valleys on all sides except for the north. The first settlement in this area was about 150 BCE, around the time of the Hasmonean kings, when what Josephus Flavius called "the First Wall" was constructed.
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Tower of David AI simulator
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Tower of David
The Tower of David (Hebrew: מגדל דוד, romanized: Migdál Davíd), also known as the Citadel (Arabic: القلعة, romanized: al-Qalʿa), is an ancient citadel and contemporary museum, located near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem.
The citadel that stands today dates to the Mamluk and Ottoman periods. It was built on the site of a series of earlier ancient fortifications of the Hasmonean, Herodian, Byzantine and Early Muslim periods, after being destroyed repeatedly during the last decades of Crusader presence in the Holy Land by their Muslim enemies. It contains artifacts from the Iron Age including a quarry dated to the Second Temple period and pottery, fishbones, and other archaeological finds dating from the First Temple Period, and is a venue for benefit events, craft shows, concerts, and sound-and-light performances.
Dan Bahat, an Israeli archaeologist, writes that the original three Hasmonean towers standing in this area of the city were altered by Herod, and that "the northeastern tower was replaced by a much larger, more massive tower, dubbed the 'Tower of David' beginning in the 5th century CE" Originally referring to the Herodian tower in the northeast of the citadel, in the 19th century the name Tower of David began to refer to the 17th-century minaret at the opposite side of the citadel, and since 1967 officially refers to the entire citadel.
The Tower of David hosted several art exhibitions in the 1920s in a period dubbed by some the Tower of David Period in Israeli art.
The name Tower of David was first used for the Herodian tower in the 5th century CE by the Byzantine Christians, who believed the site to be the palace of King David. They borrowed the name Tower of David from the Song of Songs, attributed to Solomon, King David's son, who wrote: "Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men" (Song of Songs, 4:4).
An Arabic name of the massive Herodian-Mamluk northeast tower is the Burj al-Qalʾa (برج القلعة, 'Citadel Tower').
During the Early Muslim and Ayyubid periods it was known in Arabic as Miḥrāb Dāwūd, lit. 'David's miḥrāb (prayer place)'. Note that there is also another mihrab called Miḥrāb Dāwūd, built into the inner side of the Southern Wall of the Haram esh-Sharif/Temple Mount.
During the 2nd century BCE, the Old City of Jerusalem expanded further onto the so-called Western Hill. This 773-metre (2,536 ft) high prominence, which comprises the modern Armenian and Jewish Quarters as well as Mount Zion, was bounded by steep valleys on all sides except for the north. The first settlement in this area was about 150 BCE, around the time of the Hasmonean kings, when what Josephus Flavius called "the First Wall" was constructed.