Damascus Gate

The Damascus Gate features two stout stone towers that flank a series of concentric, curved arches. Built in the sixteenth century by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the gate rests directly over the ruins of a Roman entrance constructed by Emperor Hadrian hundreds of years earlier. Beneath the current walkway, archaeologists unearthed the original, smaller Roman gate, complete with a stone pedestal once holding a statue of the emperor. Today, the gate serves as the primary entrance into the Muslim Quarter.