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Courtesy Benjamin Mazar, Archaeological Expedition of the Hebrew University and the Israel Exploration Society near the Temple Mount
The Temple Mount on which sits the Dome of the Rock (left) and the Mosque of El-Aksa, looms over the archaeological excavations around its walls. We look at the southwest corner of the Mount from the Upper City on the western hill. On the shaded western wall, below the first window from the corner, is the spring of an arch known as “Robinson’s Arch” The other end of the arch rested on a pier opposite. This arch supported a monumental stairway which descended from the Mount to the valley below.
Halfway along the southern wall, a Crusader structure obscures the point where the crenelated 16th-century Turkish city wall (center right) intersects the southern wall of the Temple Mount. Beyound this juncture to the east, the southern wall of the Mount also serves as the outer wall of the Old City.
On the horizon the church tower (far right) marks the Mount of Olives.