Lions' Gate
{{Short description|Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem}}
{{about|the place in Jerusalem|other uses|Lions Gate (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox building
| name = Lions' Gate
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| former_names =
| alternate_names = St Stephen's Gate, Bab Sitti Maryam (lit. 'Gate of My Lady Mary')
| image = LionsGate Jerusalem.JPG
| image_alt =
| caption = Lions' Gate
| map_type = Old Jerusalem
| map_alt =
| map_caption = Location in Old Jerusalem
| altitude =
| building_type =
| architectural_style =
| structural_system =
| location_town = Jerusalem Old City, Muslim Quarter
| location_country =
| coordinates = {{coord|31|46|51|N|35|14|13|E|region:IL_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| other_dimensions = Height: {{Convert|13.7|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}{{citation |title= Conservation of the Lions Gate Section |publisher=Israel Antiquities Authority |year= 2012 |url= http://www.antiquities.org.il/jerusalemwalls/preservation_e14lion.asp |access-date= 10 January 2022}}
| start_date =
| completion_date = 1538/9 (AH 945){{cite web |url=https://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/aboutisrael/state/pages/jerusalem%20within%20the%20walls.aspx |title=Jerusalem within the Walls |website=Ministry of Foreign Affairs |date=11 September 2012 |access-date=10 January 2022}}
| inauguration_date =
| renovation_date = 2012{{cite web |title=Conservation work at the Lions Gate completed |publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel) |date= 11 September 2012 |url= https://mfa.gov.il/mfa/israelexperience/history/pages/lions-gate-11-sep-2012.aspx |access-date= 10 January 2022}}
| height =
| floor_count =
| architect =
| url =
| references =
}}
Lions' Gate ({{langx|he|שער האריות|Sha'ar ha-Arayot|Lions' Gate}}, {{langx|ar|باب الأسباط|Bab al-Asbat|Gate of the Tribes}}), also St Stephen's Gate, is one of the seven open Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem. It leads into the Muslim Quarter of the Old City.
History
The start of the traditional Christian observance of the last walk of Jesus from prison to crucifixion, the Via Dolorosa, begins at the Lions' Gate, called St Stephen's Gate by Christians. Carved into the wall above the gate are four lions, two on the left and two on the right. Suleiman the Magnificent had the carvings made to celebrate the Ottoman defeat of the Mamluks in 1517. Legend has it that Suleiman's predecessor Selim I dreamed of lions that were going to eat him because of his plans to level the city. He was spared only after promising to protect the city by building a wall around it. This led to the lion becoming the heraldic symbol of Jerusalem.Murphy-O'Connor, Jerome, The Holy Land: an Oxford archaeological guide from earliest times to 1700, 2008, p. 21, {{ISBN|978-0-19-923666-4}}{{dubious|Selim's lions as city emblem - really? When?|reason=Murphy-O'Connor does write that, but I'm pretty sure Israel chose the symbol of Judah, not Baybars' leopards, being happy to leave everybody to see what they please. I now looked up "Emblem of Jerusalem" and it's clearly the "lion of Judah".|date=January 2022}}
Historian Moshe Sharon notes the similarity of the sculpted felines to similar pairs at Jisr Jindas and Qasr al-Basha in Gaza. All represent the same Mamluk sultan, Baibars. Sharon estimates that they all date to approximately 1273 C.E.Sharon, 2009, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=P2LtyFVNJmcC&pg=PA58 58] and pl. 6.
The gate is part of the city's extant walls, built by Ottoman Sultan Suleiman in 1538. The walls stretch for approximately {{convert|4.5|km|mi|sp=us}} and rise to a height of {{convert|5|-|15|m|ft|sp=us}}, with a thickness of {{convert|3|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}}.[http://info.jpost.com/2000/Supplements/Millennium/centuries3.html The Jerusalem Post Millennium Special] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070429102920/http://info.jpost.com/2000/Supplements/Millennium/centuries3.html |date=2007-04-29 }} All together, the Old City walls contain 43 surveillance towers and 11 gates, seven of which are presently open.
In 1967, it was through this gate that Israeli paratroopers broke into the Old City of Jerusalem, along with the rest of East Jerusalem and the whole West Bank, from Jordan at the time.{{Cite web |date=2011-06-17 |title=אתרים- קבצים |url=http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/jer_sys/picture/atarim/Toursite_form_atarEng.asp?site_id=495&pic_cat=4&icon_cat=6&york_cat=9&type_id=1 |access-date=2022-05-20 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617060531/http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/jer_sys/picture/atarim/Toursite_form_atarEng.asp?site_id=495&pic_cat=4&icon_cat=6&york_cat=9&type_id=1 |archive-date=17 June 2011 |url-status=dead}}
Loewentor Leoparden.jpg|Detail of Lions' Gate carvings, actually leopards[http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/jer_sys/picture/atarim/Toursite_form_atarEng.asp?site_id=495&pic_cat=4&icon_cat=6&york_cat=9&type_id=1 Jerusalem municipality website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617060531/http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/jer_sys/picture/atarim/Toursite_form_atarEng.asp?site_id=495&pic_cat=4&icon_cat=6&york_cat=9&type_id=1|date=2011-06-17 }} (panthers).
Indian and British guards, St. Stephen's Gate, Jerusalem LOC matpc.00756.jpg|British imperial troops from India and Britain guard the gate in 1920
See also
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
:*{{cite book|title=Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, G |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=P2LtyFVNJmcC |first1=Moshe|last1=Sharon|author-link=Moshe Sharon |year=2009|volume =4| publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-17085-8}}
{{refend}}
External links
{{Commons category|Lions Gate}}
- [https://www.manar-al-athar.ox.ac.uk/pages/search.php?search=%21collection864 Photos of the gate] at the Manar al-Athar photo archive
- [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/geo/gates.html The Old City Gates: www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161129214540/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_%26_Culture/geo/gates.html |date=2016-11-29 }}
{{Old City (Jerusalem)|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}