7 Things You Didn't Know About the Western Wall

(The Kotel)

1. The largest stone in the Kotel is 44 feet long and weighs 570 tons. In comparison, the largest stone in the Great Pyramid weighs 11 tons.

(The Western Wall tunnels)

2. The Western Wall is NOT the holiest place in the world for the Jewish nation.

The foundation stone, which is beneath the Dome of the Rock and where the holiest part of the temple was, is still the holiest place in the world for the Jewish nation.

3. The original height of the Western Wall was about 60 meters or 200 feet. Today we see in the plaza only 19 meters or about 60 feet which is only a third of it's original height!

4. If you decide to walk into the Kotel, strip naked, and lay down in the men's section muttering to yourself, you will immediately be sent to a mental hospital
(Yes. That actually happened in 2007.)

5. From the mid-19th century onwards, attempts to purchase rights to the wall and its immediate area were made by various Jews, but none were successful.

6. After the 1948 War of Independence, the wall came under Jordanian control and Jews were barred from the site for 19 years until Israel "captured" the Old City in 1967.

7. Although Jews govern Jerusalem itself, Muslims control the Temple Mount and the state of Israel has no authority over it, either secular or sacred.