Western Wall is a Jewish holy place located in Jerusalem. It is also called the Wailing Wall. During Roman times, it formed the western wall of the enclosure surrounding the courtyard of the Jews’ holy Temple. The wall is about 160 feet (49 meters) long and about 40 feet (12 meters) high. Archaeologists have discovered that 19 rows of stones extend about 20 feet (6 meters) underground.
Beginning in the 700’s, the Arabs who then ruled Jerusalem permitted Jews to assemble at the wall on the evenings before their Sabbath and before their feast days. In services at the wall, the Jews recalled their traditions and sufferings.
Jews continued to worship at the Western Wall after the British won control of Jerusalem during World War I (1914-1918). In 1948, Jordan captured the section of Jerusalem where the wall stood and prohibited Jews from the new state of Israel from using it. But the Jews regained access to the wall when Israel captured the Jordanian section of Jerusalem in the Arab-Israeli war of June 1967. Since then, it has become a place of pilgrimage and prayer, and a symbol of Jewish unity and survival.
