Photo & Edit: Ron Peled 2008 ronpeled@hotmail.com www.feelJerusalem.com

Zedekiah’s Cave in Jerusalem - King Solomon's Quarries

The cave is the largest man-made cave in Israel. It is close to 1,000 feet in length, and spans over 2.5 acres. The entrance is not far from the Damascus Gate and lies in its entirety under the Muslim Quarter as far as Via Dolorosa in the old city of Jerusalem. Even at the entrance one can see that it descends into a very long cave (like in the picture)

Zedekiah’s Cave got its name from the biblical story of the last king of Judah, who fled from Jerusalem towards the Arava prairie, after the Babylonians conquered the city in 586 BCE. (He was captured on the plains of Jericho.) The Hebrew Sages mentioned the cave, noting the Zedekiah had fled from it, and that it was about 9.5 miles long. Josephus Plavius dubbed the cave the ‘Royal Caverns’

“And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, that Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem: and they surrounded it: and raised works round about it. And the city was shut up and besieged till the eleventh year of king Sedecias, The ninth day of the month: and a famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. And a breach was made into the city: and all the men of war fled in the night between the two walls by the king's garden (now the Chaldees besieged the city round about), and Sedecias fled by the way that leadeth to the plains of the wilderness. And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho”, 2 Kings Chapter 25

So, let's go in…

The cave was blocked and lost to history from the 11th century. It was re-exposed in the 19th century, when an American missionary called Barclay followed his dog through an opening

in the Old City wall

The British, in the 19th century, were of the opinion that this was where King Solomon

carved building blocks for the First Temple.That is why they call the cave ‘King Solomon’s Quarries’

Having entered the cave, we will descent some 100 meters until the main gallery – the Free Masons auditorium. Chisel marks are visible along the walls to our right on our way down

The Freemasonry secret society believes that Solomon was the first and greatest masonry (hence the society’s name). They regarded the cave as an appropriate location to hold their clandestine ceremonies. Their first assembly in the cave was in 1854 and until this day the

hold an annual ceremony in the auditorium-like chamber

British Free Masons outside the cave, 1898

Visitors during the 19th century (Photo: American Colony)

One of the participants at that first ceremony was Captain Charles Warren (Free Mason himself), one of the most prominent explorers of Jerusalem (Warren’s Shaft in the City of

David, Warren’s Gate in the Western Wall Tunnel). Several years later he was called back to London to run the police investigation on Jack the Ripper

Inside the cave, on the way down, lies a spring. The sound of the running water is clearly audible. Legend has it that the water from the spring is the tears of the old king, Zedekiah, lamenting the fate of his sons, as described in the bible (The Spring of Zedekiah’s Tears)

For thousands of years, the cave was used as a quarry. Most probably from as early as the First Temple. Because of its size, location and the secrecy surrounding it, there are many Jewish, Muslim and Christian myths associated with it. Some of them can be found in the

books of the late Professor Zeev Vilnai. These include quotes, sources, and amusing stories about travelers.

Years of carving left the cave with square and rectangular shapes all over the walls and ceiling. Although the methods used for quarrying stone are not all dated, one can easily

discern the methods used from the First Temple period and especially the techniques from he days of the Second Temple.

The last use of the cave as a quarry for building blocks was at the beginning of the 20th century, when the Turks built a clock tower at Jaffa Gate. The tower was

removed by the British in 1922.

Jaffa Gate

To the cave’s gallery click hereronpeled@hotmail.com

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