Water company uncovers 14th-century aqueduct bridge near Old City

by Jerusalem Dispatch Staff

Work on the city’s modern water infrastructure uncovered a section of Jerusalem’s ancient aqueduct, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Tuesday.

While the Gihon Corporation was working on the sewage infrastructure in the vicinity of the Sultan’s Pool in the Jerusalem Walls National Park, a section of Jerusalem’s ancient aqueduct was discovered. In the wake of this discovery, the Antiquities Authority conducted an excavation in which a spectacular arched bridge was revealed that was part of the very old aqueduct that conveyed water to the Temple Mount.

“The bridge, which could still be seen at the end of the 19th century and appears in old photographs, was covered over during the twentieth century,” said excavation director Yehiel Zelinger. “We were thrilled when it suddenly reappeared in all its grandeur during the course of the archaeological excavations.”

“The route of the low level aqueduct from the time of the Second Temple, beginning at Solomon’s Pools near Bethlehem and ending at the Temple Mount, is well known to scholars,” Zelinger added. “Substantial parts of it were documented along the edge of Yemin Moshe neighborhood and on the slope adjacent to the western wall of the Old City. The upper part of the Hinnom Valley passes between the two sections of aqueduct where the Sultan’s Pool was built as a reservoir for flood water. In order to maintain the elevation of the path along which the water flowed, a bridge was erected above the ravine. Two of the original nine arches that were in the bridge were currently excavated to their full height of about three meters.”

The bridge was built in 1320 CE by Sultan Nasser al-Din Muhammed Ibn Qalawun, apparently to replace an earlier bridge dating to the time of the Second Temple period that was part of the original aqueduct.

Work is under way to expose the entire length of the arched bridge, conserve it and integrate it in the framework of the overall development of the Sultan’s Pool, “to underscore the importance of the water supply to Jerusalem in ancient times” noted the Antiquities Authority.

Tags: ancient aqueduct, Israel Antiquities Authority, Old City of Jerusalem