Architects' Tombs, Ottoman stone tombs at Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem, Israel

The Architects' Tombs are two small Ottoman stone tombs set on a raised plot about 3 by 3 metres against the inner face of Jerusalem's wall, a few metres from Jaffa Gate. Each tomb is roughly a metre long and half a metre wide; the right one is fully preserved, while the left is worn. A carved turban finial stands at the head of the right tomb.

The two stone tombs date from the Ottoman period and are attributed by local tradition to the engineers of Sultan Suleiman I, who built Jerusalem's walls in the 1530s. A single document found by the Jerusalem Waqf archaeologist Yusuf al-Natsheh links them instead to a Muslim family from Safed, the al-Safadi, whose 16th-century waqf this plot was. The Flemish cartographer Frans Hogenberg showed a sheikh's tomb here on his 1572 map of Jerusalem.

The name "Architects' Tombs" comes from a Jerusalem legend that the two men buried here were the engineers of Sultan Suleiman's city wall; the story says the sultan had them beheaded, though it has no historical basis. A document found by the Jerusalem Waqf archaeologist Dr. Yusuf al-Natsheh instead links the graves to a Muslim family from Safed, the al-Safadi, whose waqf this plot was. The tombs are still called by the legend's name in guidebooks in many languages.

The two tombs sit on a raised plot about 3 by 3 metres, a few metres from Jaffa Gate on the inner side of the wall, between shops. The plot is small and level, reached directly from the pavement of stone slabs, so no stairs or chambers are involved. The left tomb is less well preserved than the right one.

The single Ottoman document on the tombs, found by Jerusalem Waqf archaeologist Dr. Yusuf al-Natsheh, links them to a Muslim family from Safed called al-Safadi, whose waqf land this was. The "engineers" name comes from a legend of unknown date.