City of David National Park, Archaeological national park in East Jerusalem, Israel

The City of David National Park is an Israeli national park on the hill south of the Temple Mount, covering the ancient City of David and the slopes around the Old City walls. Its sites include the 533-metre Hezekiah's Tunnel, the Pool of Siloam, Warren's Shaft, the Gihon Spring and the Ophel excavations. The park also takes in the Old City gates, the Jewish, Muslim, Christian Orthodox and Protestant cemeteries, and the Yemin Moshe and Mishkenot Sha'ananim neighbourhoods.

The national park was declared in 1974, after Jerusalem's 1970 master plan (Em/6) designated the land around the Old City walls for it. The idea of a green belt goes back to British Mandate plans: McLean (1918), Geddes (1919) and Geddes-Ashbee (1922). After 1967, mayor Teddy Kollek pushed the plan; in July 1967 Levi Eshkol and national parks officials, including architect Arieh Dvir, decided to ring the walls with a park, completed over 15 years with funds raised by the Jerusalem Foundation.

The name City of David comes from King David, who, according to 1 Kings 1:38-39, was anointed at the Gihon Spring. Visitors can walk the 533-metre Tunnel of Hezekiah, dug to bring water from the spring to the Pool of Siloam, and see the 30-metre Warren's Shaft, named after Charles Warren, who discovered it in 1867.

Many passages lead through narrow corridors and underground chambers, so a flashlight or other light source is very helpful. Visiting requires comfortable shoes and patience when navigating uneven terrain and confined spaces.

An ancient water source called the Gihon Spring supplied the first inhabitants through a branching network of channels carved into bedrock, still visible today. This underground construction demonstrates how the earliest residents created solutions for obtaining water in this dry region.