About the project
Jerusalem’s Old City walls and their eight gates were built by the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the second Ottoman ruler of Jerusalem, during the years 1535-1542 on the remains of earlier walls dating back to the days of the Hasmonean, Herod the Great and Hadrian. The walls were intended to provide security for the residents of the city, and to defend the places holy to Islam. The walls are between 16-50 feet high and about 10 feet thick at their base. A paved walkway atop the walls known as the Ramparts Walk, enables visitors to walk nearly the full three- mile length of the walls.The Jerusalem Foundation supported archeological excavations around the walls as part of the project to create the Jerusalem Gardens National Park in 1970.
