Zedekiah's Cave - Jerusalem
Introduction
Zedekiah’s Cave is located very close to the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. It is also known as Solomon’s Quarries and this goes back about 1,000 feet under the northern wall of the Old City. This cave is about 2000 years old if legends are to believed then it makes cave much older, up to 2600 years.
It is believed that Herod used stones from this quarry to build the second temple and it’s walls. Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman sultan also used stones from this quarry to build the present walls around the Old City. Main cave leads into many smaller and deeper mining caves and total area is around 5 acres.
A little spring inside the cave is known as “Zedekiah’s tears” because Zedekiah his here to escape the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. There was a sign beside the Zedekiah’s Tears to warn visitors not to drink that water. Some parts of the cave have different shape and sizes of the stones left attached. Graffiti was also visible on the walls of the cave, some people just don’t know how to respect the history. In 1868, the first meeting of Freemasons was held by candlelight in Zedekiah’s Cave.
