Roman Gate under current Damascus Gate

Beneath the Ottoman Damascus Gate lies the ancient Roman gate, one of the most impressive and intact monuments remaining from the Imperial Roman period.  Parts of the gate were initially uncovered during the 1910's and major sections thereof were unearthed during the 1960's and in the 1980's more was exposed of the remaining gate.

The gate's architectural structure comprises a large ornamented arch, flanked by two smaller arches, with two massive towers projecting from either side of the gate's facade northward.  The eastern opening of the gate was uncovered in excavations, surviving almost intact; above it are the remains of a Roman inscription from the second century CE.  The western opening is still buried underground. With the conquest of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 CE, the city was destroyed and its walls were razed to the ground.  In 130 CE, Emperor Hadrian visited Judea and decided to establish in Jerusalem the colony of Aelia Capitolina.  Once the original walls of Jerusalem were destroyed, the Romans built free-standing gates that were quite elaborate.  This is the gate that was discovered under the current Damascus Gate built in the 16th century by Sultan Suleman the Magnificent, who also built the existing wall around Jerusalem.  He reused towers and ancient wall sections of the Roman and Byzantine periods, and they located their city gates in the same places as the ancient gates.  

 Here we are inside the Roman gate into the original building, that is under the current street level.

This is the Roman Gate (you can see the current road leading to the Damascus Gate upper right corner)