Zion Gate celebrates 469 years in style
The normally pedestrian-optimized Zion Square might currently be a mess of Light Rail construction and several commercial building projects, but the similarly-named Zion Gate, located mere kilometers yet millenia away, is sitting pretty, celebrating a full year since its restoration - and a full 469 years since its original dedication by Suleiman the Magnificent. Urban development and renewal projects in Jerusalem certainly carry far more baggage than they do in other locales.
Enabling travel between Mount Zion and the border of the Armenian and Jewish Quarters within the Old City's walls, Zion Gate received a six-month, 800,000 NIS makeover courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority, with financial support from the Jerusalem Development Authority and the Jerusalem Municipality. Years of grime were removed, the dedicatory plaque installed by the great builder Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman sultan who commissioned the walls, was painstakingly restored (pictured), and efforts were taken to preserve for posterity the hundreds of pockmarks left by bullets and shells fired during the brand-new Israeli army's unsuccessful attempt to break the Arab armies' blockade of the Jewish Quarter during the 1948 war.
The
city celebrated the completion of the work about a year ago with a special
468th birthday bash for the newly resplendent gate. 468 years might have been a bit
of an unlikely number to get excited about (is it a gematria thing?), but then again, it's not like
Jerusalemites need much excuse to party. The bash was attended by then-Mayor Uri Lupolianski, as well as
veterans of the heated battle for the Jewish Quarter 61 years ago.
Photos courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
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