Solomon's Quarries

Solomon's Quarries

1st in a series…Jerusalem underground

Exploring this cave complex will be an optional event during our Jerusalem stay.

Zedekiah's Cave – also known as Solomon's Quarries – is a 5-acre underground limestone quarry that runs the length of five city blocks under the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It was carved over a period of several thousand years. The entrance to Zedekiah's Cave is just beneath the Old City wall, between the Damascus and Herod Gates. Beyond the narrow entrance, the cave slopes down into a vast 300-foot-long auditorium-like chamber.

Aproxamate locaation of Solomon's Quarries

Inside of Zedekiah's Cave Beyond the “auditorium”, are a series of artificial galleries hewn by ancient stonecutters into chaotic, sometimes bizarre, patterns and formations. Paths give access to every corner of the quarry system, which takes at least 30 minutes to explore thoroughly. Chisel marks are visible in many sections and in some galleries huge, nearly finished building blocks destined for some long-ago structure are locked into the rock where the stonecutters left them centuries ago. From entrance to the furthest point, the cave extends about 650 feet. Its maximum width is about 330 feet and its depth is generally about 30 feet  below the street level of the Muslim Quarter. Herod the Great (73 BC – 4 BC) certainly used the main quarry at Zedekiah's Cave for building blocks in the renovation of the Temple and its retaining walls, including what is known today as the Western Wall. When the Roman Jewish writer Flavius Josephus (37 - 100 AD) mentions the "Royal Caverns" of the Old City, he is referring to Zedekiah's Cave. Suleiman the Magnificent (1494-1566), the Ottoman sultan who built the present walls around the Old City, also mined the quarry, ultimately sealing it up around 1540 because of security concerns. The site was then lost to history for over 300 years until, in 1854, the American missionary James Turner Barclay was walking his dog one day. The dog, following a fox’s scent, dug through dirt near the Old City wall and suddenly disappeared through an opening. After nightfall, Barclay and his two sons, dressed in Arab garb and carrying candles, slithered through the newly opened crack to discover the vast cavern as well as the skeletons of previous visitors. In the mid-1980s, The Jerusalem Foundation built paths and installed lights throughout the cavern, facilitating tourist access.