The Temple Mount and the Western Wall

The large walled platform in the southeast corner of Jerusalem's Old City carries two names that belong to two communities: Jews call it the Temple Mount, the site of the First and Second Temples, of which the retaining walls survive from Herod's rebuilding; Muslims call it Haram al-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary, the third holiest site in Islam, home to the Dome of the Rock, dated by its own founding inscription to the late seventh century, and the al-Aqsa Mosque. Along the western retaining wall, in a plaza created after 1967, stands the Western Wall, the most-visited Jewish prayer site in the world, where worshipers place written notes between the stones. Both communities' attachments are central and neither requires adjudication to describe; the site is holy in both traditions simultaneously and is governed by a post-1967 arrangement in which the Islamic Waqf administers the Muslim sites while Israeli police control access.

Access is genuinely two different experiences. The Western Wall plaza is open to visitors and worshipers daily, with the Western Wall Heritage Foundation's rules: separated prayer sections, modest dress, no smoking or eating, notes available at the plaza. The esplanade above is a different matter: non-Muslim visitors enter free, Sunday through Thursday, in short published windows through a single ramp at the Mughrabi Gate, with police security and no entry to any of the buildings, while Muslim worshipers use the compound's other gates; on Fridays, Saturdays, and Muslim holidays the esplanade is closed to non-Muslim visitors. Jewish religious law as stated by the Chief Rabbinate forbids Jews from entering the platform at all, a restriction posted at the site itself. Any visit plan should be checked days ahead, because the windows move with holidays and the security situation.

Visiting

The Western Wall Heritage Foundation carries the plaza's rules and visitor information; the Temple Mount's visitor windows are published by the Israeli authorities and shift with the security situation and holidays, so confirm the week's hours before going.

Photo: Godot13, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jerusalem-2013(2)-Aerial-Temple_Mount-(south_exposure).jpg))