Jerusalem Archaeological Park, Archaeological site near Western Wall in Old City, Jerusalem, Israel

The Jerusalem Archaeological Park is an open-air excavation site in the Old City of Jerusalem, located directly south and southwest of Temple Mount. Exposed streets, monumental staircases, ritual baths, and walls from several ancient periods are visible and accessible across the site.

The Jerusalem Archaeological Park opened in the 1990s on the northern Ophel, the biblical elevated quarter south of the Temple Mount. Charles Warren dug here in the 1860s through tunnels and shafts because the Ottoman authorities barred open excavation near the Mount. From 1968 Benjamin Mazar led a decade-long dig for the Hebrew University, and the site became a park at the end of the 1990s.

The Davidson Center, located at the edge of the excavated area, displays objects found during the digs and explains how pilgrims used this space in their daily religious lives. Walking through the outdoor site today, visitors can trace the original path that worshippers once took toward the sacred hill.

The entrance is through an underpass beneath the road leading to the Western Wall, just south of the Western Wall Plaza and below the Dung Gate. The site covers about 20 dunams, partly bounded by the Old City wall and partly by Derech HaOfel. The ground is exposed, uneven stone with little shade, so bring sturdy shoes and water.

Excavators found 15 coins beneath the Herodian street; the latest was minted under Pontius Pilate, showing the road was built after his rule began. The street itself was buried under stones the Romans threw down from the wall above during the siege of 70 CE.