Gloria Hotel to the Tower of David Museum of the History of Jerusalem, Herodian Quarter – Wohl Museum, Tunnel to Walls of Temple Mount, and Holocaust Museum and back to the Gloria Hotel

January 14, 2019

Gloria Hotel to the Tower of David Museum of the History of Jerusalem, Herodian Quarter – Wohl Museum, Tunnel to Walls of Temple Mount, and Holocaust Museum and back to the Gloria Hotel

After gathering in the lobby of the Gloria Hotel at 8:45 am, we had a short walk to the Citadel (Tower of David) and visited the Museum of the History of Jerusalem.  This museum presented a pictorial/model history of Jerusalem through the many periods we explored in the archeological park yesterday.  First, we went to the top of the tower for a panoramic view of Jerusalem that involved both the old and new cities.   

Citadel at David's Gate

Inside the museum there was an excellent model of the topography of Jerusalem as it was pre-Temple Mount with Mt. Moriah and Mt. Zion prominent.   

The exhibits start with the Canaanite Period and go forward to the Ottoman Period.  There was a good map showing the historical location of the 10 tribes in the middle east.   

A model showed exactly the walk we did yesterday to Warren’s Shaft (yellow on model) and through Hezekiah’s Tunnel (blue on model). 

Another map showed the route of the exile into Babylonian captivity.

There was another model of the Second Temple Jerusalem.

After walking through the Jewish Quarter, we arrived at the Wohl Museum – Herodian Quarter Museum.  After the 6-days war in 1967, much of this area had been destroyed and the ruins of an ancient Herodian community where wealthy Sadducees were exposed.  Archeological work was exposed several of these homes that were built going down a hillside in the 2^nd Temple Period.  The homes had mosaic floors and frescoed walls that were brightly painted.

Model of Herodian House of the Ruins

  

From there we continued to the Western Wall complex to do the Wall Tunnel tour that takes us along the Western Wall going northward to just past the Northern Wall.  This walk was below ground and was along the Herodian blocks that support Temple Mount and included the area where the blocks go up to the bedrock of Mt. Moriah.  One stone block measured roughly 30 ft x 3 ft x 2 ft.  

Along the way an ancient street was exposed and we ended up at a pool, which is now underground, outside the northern wall. 

Only 1/3 of the pool could be see, because the pool was walled up. We actually saw the other end of the pool when we visited the Lithostratos yesterday.  Our guide, who was from Washington, DC and has lived in Israel for over 35 years was superb.  She was a former teacher and now retired loves leading the tours.

We met the bus and were transported to the Yad va-Shem, which is the fabulous Holocaust Museum.  First, we ate lunch in the cafeteria and then spent the remainder of our time in the very impressive Holocaust Historical Museum, which is a long triangular corridor built into the mountain.  There are 10 exhibition halls located off the corridor with each covering a particular period or chapter of the Holocaust.  The design is a zig-zag arrangement of these 10 halls that requires you to cross the corridor each time to reach the next hall.  As you cross the main hallway, you notice that the triangular light wall of glass at the end of the tunnel appears to become bigger until you exit through it into the world.  The museum covers in detail through 2,500 personal items donated by survivors, recovered records and movies, and first-hand accounts (video and written) from individuals from the rise of the Nazis in 1933 through the death camps in Europe.  It is very well done and really quite over-whelming and sobering in its impact on the observer.  After exiting the Historical Museum, we boarded the bus for our drive back to the Gloria Hotel.

Tomorrow is a free day, which we will use to wander through and explore some of the quarters in old Jerusalem.