The walls and gates of the Old City - is not only a monument but also an observation deck length of four kilometers. On the walls you can walk and admire the views of Jerusalem with every point he looks different, and roof of the Old Town are at arm's length.

Old walls of Jerusalem belong to the Bronze Age - their remains were found above the tunnel of Hezekiah. They built the kings David and Solomon, Herod the Great expanded. But strengthening not save Jerusalem in the year 70 - the Romans razed the city to the ground along with the bastions.

The current walls were built in the years 1535-38. Jerusalem was then part of the Ottoman Empire, ruled by the great warrior Suleiman the Magnificent. Sultan erected fortifications twelve-height. Thirty-four watchtowers controlled surroundings. Eight gates provide entrance and exit. The gates were still and administrative centers: beside them were traded, holds court.

The oldest, Golden (their second title - the Gate of Mercy), were constructed around the year 520 and led directly to the Temple Mount. Tradition says that it is through them the city must re-enter the Messiah. To avoid this, when Suleiman the Magnificent walled them.

The most famous gates - Jaffa, through which the Old City gets most tourists. Superstition has it that through them will go down in the last conqueror of Jerusalem. In 1917, the British commander, General Allenby out of respect for them to take the city went through Jaffa Gate on foot.

Zion Gate of the XVI century are on the border of the Armenian and Jewish quarters. During the War of Independence in 1948 there were fierce battles with Jordanian forces. In the Six-Day War in 1967, Israeli paratroopers broke the Temple Mount through the Lion's Gate, built in 1539.

At about the same age and current Dung (Dung) Gate, which are referred to, however, in the Old Testament (in the book of Nehemiah). They destroyed to the ground and repaired for thousands of years, until all the same Suleiman the Magnificent had built the final, the current version.

To the north face three gates on the border of the Christian and Muslim quarters - Damascus, to the west - new, youngest, built by the Turks in 1889, to facilitate the access of pilgrims to the holy places of the Christian quarter, the east - Herod's Gate. It was here that in 1099 the Crusaders showed how needed to strengthen Jerusalem reliable knights Godfrey of Bouillon break through the wall and broke into the city.

The walls and gates of Jerusalem have not changed since the days of Suleiman, when it paced the Janissaries. Now here is the narrow footpath on which the two men did not disperse, walking tourists. On the one hand - a stone wall with loopholes, the other - the railing. The walls go two routes: the north, from Jaffa to the Lion's Gate, and south, from the Tower of David to junk. At the end of the southern route from the wall can come down (but gently, very steep stairs) and continue the tour in the Jewish Quarter.