Tower of David Citadel

The Tower of David Citadel stands at Jaffa Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem, Israel, and combines a layered fortress with the Tower of David Museum. Excavations show that the first fortifications on this high ground date to the Hasmonean period in the 2nd century BCE. Herod the Great added three large towers around 37-4 BCE, named Hippicus, Phasael and Mariamne, and the lower courses of the Phasael tower survive as massive ashlar blocks. Byzantine pilgrims mistakenly identified the site with King David's palace, which gave the Citadel its popular name. The fortress was rebuilt by the Crusaders, then by the Ayyubid and Mamluk rulers, and in 1532-1540 the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent restored it as part of the city wall project. The slender minaret, added in 1655, is a prominent landmark. After the British Mandate, the Citadel was used as a military post, and in 1989 it opened as a museum. The museum occupies halls and rooms in the inner courtyard and tells the history of Jerusalem in chronological order, starting with the Canaanite city and moving through the First and Second Temple periods, the Roman, Byzantine, early Islamic, Crusader, Mamluk and Ottoman eras, the British Mandate and the modern city. Displays include models of Jerusalem, such as a large model by Stanislaus Hirschfeld, as well as multimedia exhibits, maps, videos and archaeological finds. Courtyard excavations reveal remains from the Hasmonean, Herodian and Crusader periods and can be explored on paths and steps. The ramparts and the tower offer a panoramic view over the Old City, the Dome of the Rock and the Mount of Olives. In the evening, the Night Spectacular, a sound and light show, is projected onto the walls on selected nights. The building has been preserved and conserved by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the museum, and it hosts temporary exhibitions and concerts in its courtyard.