A massive, blank wall built of huge stone blocks, the Western Wall (Ha-Kotel in Hebrew) is Judaism’s holiest site, and the plaza in front of it is a permanent place of worship. The wall is part of the retaining wall of the Temple Mount and was built by Herod the Great during his expansion of the Temple enclosure. The huge, lower stones are Herodian, while those higher up date from early Islamic times.

During the Ottoman period, the wall became where Jews came to lament the destruction of the Second Temple. For this reason it was for centuries known as the Wailing Wall.

Houses covered most of what’s now the Western Wall Plaza until relatively recently. When the Israelis gained control of the Old City after the 1967 war, they levelled the neighbouring Arab district.

Non-Jews can approach the wall, provided they dress appropriately and cover their heads.

At the left-hand corner of the men’s prayer section is Wilson’s Arch (named after a 19th-century archaeologist). Now contained within a building that functions as a synagogue, it originally carried the Causeway to the Temple. From the arch, archaeologists have dug the Western Wall Tunnel  to explore the wall’s foundations. It follows the base of the outside face of the Temple wall along a Herodian street, below today’s street level, and emerges on the Via Dolorosa. The Chain of the Generations Centre  tells the story of the Jewish people. Access to this and the Tunnel is by tour only; book well in advance.