Jerusalem: Israeli Archaeologist on Thursday launched a new part of a large public building in Jerusalem only meters from which the second Jewish temple was believed to have stood two millenniums ago.
The luxury hall used by the elite is the latest invention to be published by the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) of what he commands as the western wall tunnel in the old city.
Along with the remaining East Jerusalem, the old city was annexed by Israel after the 1967 six-day war move never internationally recognized.
Luxury hall, the parts previously disclosed, including sophisticated fountains.
It might be used for dinner or other meetings by local elites or to host the officials – a valuable location given its proximity to what Israel.
The Temple Mount is the most holy site of Judaism but now accommodating Haram Al-Sharif compounds, the third most holy site in Islam which includes the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock.
“This is a very extraordinary building, one of the most magnificent public buildings that we know from the second temple period,” said Senior Archaeologist Iaa Shlomit Wexler-Bdolah told AFP.
The second Jewish temple was built under the reign of King Herod, Vassal Roman Empire, and was destroyed by Roman forces at 70 M.
Weeksler-Bdolah said the newer parts excavated from the hall explaining how Jerusalem rulers through history ensured to leave their mark, especially on a valuable field.
Around the destruction time of the temple, the banquet hall is divided into a different segment and there is a “very impressive ritual bath” underground plaza, he said.
Weekser-BDOlah acknowledges that the different construction phase on the site appears “busy” and that the right chronology or motivation is still difficult to understand.
But “You can really compare it with (modern) Jerusalem,” he told AFP.
“Every person who rules must put the flause, must make a new plan, have to do something.
If you don’t do it, you don’t exist.” He said excavations showed that the hall was no longer used during the early Islamic period, which began in the 7th century, because for centuries previously packed with various types of charging.
During the early Islamic period, the Jerusalem people operated on the road level a few meters above the hall.
Mordechai Soli Eliv, Chair of the Foundation Western Wall Heritage, said the new findings would further “describe the complexity of Jewish life in Jerusalem,” at that time.
Palestine, who claimed East Jerusalem included the old city as the capital of their future countries, has accused that excavation in the area threatened the foundation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex.