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The Gate of the Chain. When developers installing a sewage system outside this Temple Mount entrance uncovered ancient paving stones, archaeologists were summoned to inspect the site, as required by Israeli law. The pavement, they discovered, was part of a first-to-second-century C.E. street running from a small square in front of the Gate of the Chain (at the entrance to the Temple Mount) to Jaffa Gate (in the Old City wall). A portion of the road has been preserved beneath the modern street level. A series of huge arches, including Wilson’s Arch, which still juts out from the Temple Mount’s western wall, supported the street as it bridged the Tyropoeon Valley on its way to the Upper City.

To the right of the Gate of the Chain stands one of six public fountains built by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1536–1537. The public fountain incorporates earlier elements: The trough was originally a Roman sarcophagus and the elaborate arched frame and carved rosette were removed from a church.