names of their owners – people who are mentioned named after its discoverer. in the Bible.” “This was probably the centerpiece of the city’s early water supply system, since it would have enabled the DIGGING UP THE PAST city’s occupants to safely reach fresh water during times of siege,” explained Leuchter. “In 2005,” he While Sir Charles Warren’s reputation as Chief continued, “archeologists discovered the ruins of a Commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police in the pair of walls that would have protected the overland late 1880s took a nock for the failure of his police force path to the spring prior to the tunnel’s construction.” to solve the Jack the Ripper murders, two decades The beauty of this archeological site, is that it is “open earlier, this distinguished soldier was making a name ended and there are always new discoveries.” After for himself for his explorations of Palestine (between some 14 years of careful and painstaking excavation 1867 and 1870) “and which form the basis for our led by Prof. Ronny Reich of Haifa University and Eli knowledge of the topography of ancient Jerusalem and Shukrun of the Antiquities Authority, the 3,800-year- the archaeology of the Temple Mount,” said Leuchter. old “Spring Citadel” was officially opened in April Conducting an excavation of the area south of the 2014. Built to save and protect the city’s water during Temple Mount and uncovering a massive fortification, times of siege, it is described in the Book of Kings as led Warren to explore the hill at the foot of the Temple the location of King Solomon’s anointing. Mount, known today as the City of David hill. In October To get an idea of what it was like for Charles Warren 1867, he entered the Gihon Spring and began to crawling through the tunnel in 1867 from the Pool of investigate the underground tunnels surrounding Siloam in the south to the spring, Leuchter read a few the spring. There he discovered a vertical shaft that passages written by the archeologist describing the led to a manmade tunnel connecting the spring, at difficulties he had in keeping his nose above water. It the foot of the hill, to the hill’s peak. He held that the is the first such detailed description we have. system was intended to connect the city’s residents “We were now crawling on all fours, and thought we with the spring, and the water was drawn from this were getting on very pleasantly, the water being only shaft. Today, this shaft is known as Warren’s Shaft, four inches deep, and we were not wet higher than our Ministry of Tourism, Nachum Chen Ministry of Tourism,

Birthplace Of Jerusalem. More ancient than the Old City, nearly half a million people visit the City of David National Park every year, making it one of the most important and popular sites in Jerusalem.

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